J Mater Sci

DOI 10.1007/s10853-012-6724-4

A new aluminum-based metal matrix composite reinforced

with cobalt ferrite magnetic nanoparticle
Chandan Borgohain • Kaustubh Acharyya •
Sidananda Sarma • Kula Kamal Senapati •
K. C. Sarma • Prodeep Phukan

Received: 27 February 2012 / Accepted: 5 July 2012

Ó Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2012

Abstract A new composite with cobalt ferrite magnetic Introduction

nanoparticle dispersed in an aluminum matrix has been
prepared using the ball-milling technique followed by Nanocrystalline powders have been under extensive
compaction and sintering. Our efforts were largely focused investigation in the recent years due to their novel physical,
on investigating the contribution of cobalt ferrite to the chemical, and mechanical properties [1, 2]. Their unique-
enhancement of structural, mechanical and magnetic ness in mechanical property arises from their high surface
properties of aluminum. Incorporation of 1–10 weight to volume ratio when these materials are fabricated in
(wt)% of nanosized cobalt ferrite into the aluminum matrix nanometer dimension [3–5]. In view of their unique
could affect remarkable change in mechanical properties. mechanical properties, the concept of composite materials
Enhancement of hardness value, elastic modulus, and such as discontinuously reinforced metal matrix compos-
compressive strength was observed in the case of cobalt ites (DRMMC) has been developed to have the combined
ferrite-incorporated aluminum matrix as compared to the advantages of the constituent materials. Fabrication of such
pure aluminum sample. Incorporation of cobalt ferrite hybrid materials is useful in designing new devices and
could impart considerable improvement of magnetization instruments with parameters that are unattainable for con-
value of the aluminum matrix with a saturation magneti- ventional materials alone [6–13]. The ability to tailor the
zation of 17.07 emu/g for the aluminum sample reinforced physical and mechanical properties by selecting the rein-
with 10 wt% of cobalt ferrite. A decrease in coercive force forcement type, matrix alloy, and volume fraction is the
in the sample arising from the increase in surface effects added advantage of this technique. In this context, the
and inter-particle interaction between the ferromagnetic development of aluminum composites with improved
cobalt ferrite and soft phases in the matrix was also properties by incorporating nanocrystalline materials into
observed. the matrix is of great importance in specialized engineering
applications such as aerospace, automobile, and electronic
industries.
Usually, reinforcement materials that are used for fab-
rication of metal matrix composites (MMC’s) include
C. Borgohain  K. C. Sarma (&)
Department of Instrumentation and USIC, Gauhati University, oxides (e.g., SiO2 and Al2O3), nitrides (e.g., AlN and
Guwahati 781014, Assam, India SiN4), carbides (e.g., SiC, WC, TiC and B4C), and single
e-mail: [email protected] element materials (e.g., carbon and silicon). These rein-
forcements are usually in the form of short fibers, contin-
C. Borgohain  K. K. Senapati  P. Phukan (&)
Department of Chemistry, Gauhati University, uous fibers, and particles. Of these three different forms,
Guwahati 781014, Assam, India particle reinforcements are available in several varieties at
e-mail: [email protected] a relatively low cost and have been used more than the
others. Martı́nez-Sánchez et al. have reported significant
C. Borgohain  K. Acharyya  S. Sarma  K. K. Senapati
Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati, Guwahati 781039, improvement in microhardness values by dispersing
Assam, India Ag-carbon nanoparticle into the aluminum matrix prepared

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by mechanical milling [14]. In the present study, we nanopowders were the starting materials. The cobalt ferrite
focused on the possibility of improving the magnetic and nanopowders of size 20–30 nm were prepared by a method
mechanical properties of aluminum by dispersing CoFe2O4 previously reported by us [18, 21] and its purity was better
nanoparticle of size 20–30 nm into the aluminum matrix. than 99.5 %. The studies of microstructural and mechani-
Aluminum matrix composites are wear resistant and are cal properties were carried out on samples prepared in the
among the most promising material for structural applica- form of pellets from mixtures of pure cobalt ferrite and Al
tion due to its lightweight, durability, ductility, malleabil- powder of appropriate ratios prepared in a KBr-pelletizing
ity, and low cost [15, 16]. It is also weakly magnetic machine at ambient temperature under a pressure of
(paramagnetic). On the other hand, cobalt ferrite nanopar- 20 MPa. Before compaction, the sample was ball milled
ticle is a well-known hard magnetic material, which has using a planetary ball-milling machine under argon atmo-
been studied in detail due to its high coercivity, moderate sphere for 15 min with ball to powder ratio of 10:1 and no
magnetic saturation, remarkable chemical stability, and process control was used. Following compaction, the
mechanical hardness [17]. CoFe2O4 nanoparticle prepared samples were sintered at 773 K under argon atmosphere for
by sonochemically assisted reverse co-precipitation method 5 h in a custom made muffle furnace at a heating rate of
is a new reinforcement agent with good structural, mag- 2 K/min. Four composite specimens were prepared con-
netic, and mechanical properties which is a prerequisite in taining 1, 2.5, 5, and 10 wt% cobalt ferrite, respectively.
developing metal matrix composites with remarkably good The indentation tests were done using a hardness tester
magnetomechanical properties for advanced applications (VM-50) with a diamond Vickers indenter under ambient
[18]. A study of such magnetic metal matrix composites conditions. The samples prepared in the form of disks of
with remarkably good mechanical and magnetic properties 10-mm diameter and 1-mm thick were mounted on epoxy
yet light-weight due to its aluminum base material may resin and polished for microhardness measurement. The
help in developing new fuel efficient engineering devices indentation was done using a Vickers diamond pyramid
for aircrafts, ships, automobiles, and sensitive measuring with a load of 100 N(F) applied on the surface for 15 s.
instruments. The diagonal (d) crack length was measured by the FESEM
The method of fabrication of such composites and post (Carl Zeiss, Sigma). The hardness value (Hv) was calcu-
fabrication processes such as mixing, pressing, and sin- lated by the relation [22].
tering have significant affect on the physical, chemical,

Hv ¼ 1:8544 F=d 2 ð1Þ
thermal, and mechanical properties of the MMCs. There
are two well-known methods for fabricating particulate The compressive properties of the samples were
MMCs, namely the solid state and liquid state processes measured at a constant strain rate under ambient
[19, 20]. In the present study, we have chosen a simple and conditions using a Digitally controlled closed loop Servo
cost-effective method by premixing reinforcement nano- Hydraulic 100 KN (Maximum) Dynamic Universal Testing
particles with the metal matrix by the ball-milling tech- Machine (INSTRON, Model 8801) under a maximum
nique followed by compaction and sintering. The powder compressive load of 1KN, in which the size of the test
metallurgy route has several attractive features as it allows specimens was 10 mm (diameter) 9 30 mm (height). The
essentially any alloy for the matrix. It also allows a much load was applied on the sample up to the point of
wider variety of reinforcement as the reaction between the mechanical failure.
matrix and the reinforcements can be reduced considerably The microstructure of the samples was examined using
by using solid state processing. Moreover, the difficulty in field emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM:
wetting cobalt ferrite particles with molten aluminum Carl-Zeiss Sigma) in the back-scattered mode. For
makes powder metallurgy route more appropriate. It is microscopy observation, the samples were etched using
expected that the metal matrix composites reinforced by kellers solution for 1 min. The crystalline nature of the
cobalt ferrite nanoparticles would have high strength and synthesized cobalt ferrite and cobalt ferrite-reinforced
good magnetism. The main aim of the present work is to aluminum sample was investigated by X-ray diffrac-
investigate the effect of nanoparticle concentration on tion(XRD) pattern recorded on a Bruker AXS D8 using Cu-
structural, mechanical, and magnetic properties of cobalt Ka radiation (k = 1.54178 Å) [23]. The weight percentage
ferrite-reinforced aluminum composite. of cobalt ferrite was calculated using the recorded weights
of cobalt ferrite and aluminum in the mixture and was
verified with the experimental results of weight percentage
Materials and methods obtained from SEM/EDX analysis. The relative densities
were measured by Archimedes principle which involved
Aluminum powder (obtained from Merck Corporation, weighing of polished discs of pure aluminum and
99.7 % pure) of size 5–10 lm and cobalt ferrite the composites in air and when immersed in water. The

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samples were weighed using a Sartorius TE153S electronic Structural and thermal analysis
balance having an accuracy of ±0.001 g. The densities and
porosity derived from the recorded weights were also Figure 1 shows the XRD pattern of pure aluminum and
compared with those obtained by using the theoretic rule of cobalt ferrite-reinforced aluminum samples. The diffrac-
mixtures [24, 25]. The fracture surface characterization tion peaks and relative intensities of all patterns match well
studies on the fractured surfaces were carried using Con- with a cubic spinel structure of cobalt ferrite (JCPDS—
focal Laser Scan Microscope (Zeiss, LSM 510 meta). The International center diffraction data, PDF cards 3-864 and
differential scanning calorimetry/thermogravimetric ana- 22-1086) and aluminum (JCPDS—International center
lyzer (DSC/TGA) measurements of the samples were diffraction data, PDF cards 030932 and 040787). As indi-
recorded on a NETZSCH 449 F3 Jupiter under nitrogen cated earlier, all samples were ball milled for 15 min,
atmosphere at a heating rate of 10 °C/min. For studying the consolidated, and sintered at 773 K for 12 h before testing.
magnetic properties of the composites the M-H loops were Representative XRD scans (for pure aluminum, 1, 2.5, 5,
measured using a Vibrating Sample Magnetometer (Lake- and 10 wt% of cobalt ferrite) in Fig. 1 do not reveal the
shore 7400 series) at room temperature with a maximum presence of any other phase in the samples. However, a
applied field of ±2T. close comparison of the XRD patterns of pure cobalt ferrite
and cobalt ferrite-aluminum matrix composite revealed that
there is an asymmetric broadening of (311) peak of cobalt
Results and discussion ferrite present in the composite (Fig. 2). This may possibly
be due to the formation of a small amount of cobalt-alu-
Sintering density measurements and porosity minum ferrite because of grain boundary diffusion at the
interface of cobalt ferrite and aluminum caused by the ball
The relative densities and porosity versus the weight per- milling and annealing during the fabrication of the com-
centage of cobalt ferrite-aluminum composites are calcu- posite. The asymmetric broadening toward higher angle
lated based on the theoretic densities of aluminum and with the increasing concentration of cobalt ferrite shows
cobalt ferrite using the rule of mixtures (ROM) which are that Al atoms have entered substitutionally into the spinel
presented in Table 1. The relative density of pure alumi- structure of cobalt ferrite [26]. However, the peaks of
num and cobalt ferrite-reinforced aluminum was found to cobalt ferrite and cobalt-aluminum ferrite in the XRD scans
be approximately 98 % up to the sample with 2.5 wt% of could not be resolved which indicates that the interfacial
cobalt ferrite which is an indication of high interfacial bond reaction was probably not detected in the XRD pattern due
strength of cobalt ferrite in the aluminum matrix. The small to the limited resolution of the instrument at this smaller
decrease in relative density may be due to the formation a cobalt ferrite content. It is important to note that due to the
hydrated oxide film on the surface the metal powders as small diameters and large surface areas of the cobalt
observed in the earlier studies [6], which is responsible for ferrite employed here; the chances of their reaction with
the formation of gas porosity during the process of con- the aluminum matrix may increase. Nevertheless, the
solidation and sintering. Again, at the higher concentration
(10 wt%) of cobalt ferrite, the relative density dropped
further to 96 % which may be due to clustering of cobalt
ferrite nanoparticles due to high particle aspect ratio
leading to formation of defects such as porosity.

Table 1 Results of wt%, density and porosity of pure aluminum and

cobalt ferrite-reinforced aluminum
Weight percentage Density (kg/m3) Relative Porosity (%)
density
Al CoFe2O4 Theoretic Experimental
(wt%) (wt%) (9103) (9103)

100 0 2.7 2.65 ± 0.004 98.15 0.019 ± 0.0004

99 1 2.73 2.68 ± 0.004 98.17 0.018 ± 0.0004
97.5 2.5 2.76 2.7 ± 0.004 98.19 0.018 ± 0.0004
95 5 2.83 2.77 ± 0.004 97.88 0.021 ± 0.0004
90 10 2.96 2.85 ± 0.004 96.28 0.037 ± 0.0004 Fig. 1 XRD pattern of the cobalt ferrite-reinforced aluminum pellets

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Fig. 2 XRD pattern of the pure cobalt ferrite and cobalt ferrite-
reinforced aluminum pellets (Al-10 wt% CoFe2O4)

formation of cobalt-aluminum ferrite is not regarded as

detrimental from the mechanical point of view as it may
hinder the detachment of cobalt ferrite from the matrix
during mechanical stress due to strong Al-cobalt ferrite
bonding and thereby increasing its mechanical strength.
The microstructure (Back-scattered FESEM images) of
composites of 1, 2.5, 5, and 10 wt% cobalt ferrite and pure
aluminum samples are shown in Fig. 3a–e. As the atomic
number of cobalt ferrite is much higher than aluminum, the
scattering contrast results in the figures could be clearly
observed as dark Al matrix with bright cobalt ferrite
nanoparticles. Although the cobalt ferrite nanoparticles are
well embedded in the aluminum matrix, we observed a
partial agglomeration and formation of pores in the sam-
ples with low concentration (1 and 2.5 wt%) of cobalt
ferrite. The sample in Fig. 3c with 2.5 wt% of cobalt ferrite
attained highest relative densities (97.8 %) and indicates a
good bonding between the aluminum matrix and cobalt
ferrite without any evidence of large cavities at the inter-
face. However, for samples with higher percentage (5 and
10 wt%) of cobalt ferrite, the agglomeration was more
prominent, as evidenced from the large cavities at the
interface between the phases. In powder-processed mate-
rial, the relative size of the metal matrix and reinforce-
ments play a vital role in the reinforcement distribution in
the matrix. Although the appropriate size ratios for
obtaining a uniform distribution of the reinforcement par-
ticles depend on the process of blending and consolidation,
typical aspect ratios for atomized aluminum powder lies in
the range 1–5:1. As the particles of the matrix powder is
Fig. 3 FESEM (back-scattered) images of a pure aluminum,
large (5–10 lm in our case) relative to the reinforcement, b Al-1 wt% CoFe2O4, c Al-2.5 wt% CoFe2O4, d Al-5 wt% CoFe2O4,
the reinforcing particles agglomerate at the interstitial sites e Al-10 wt% CoFe2O4

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Table 2 Mechanical properties of pure aluminum and cobalt ferrite-

reinforced aluminum
Material Micro Elastic Ultimate
hardness modulus compressive
VHN (GPa) strength
(MPa)

Pure Aluminum 55.6 ± 0.0001 1.7 ± 0.005 139 ± 0.1

Al-1 wt% CoFe2O4 56.4 ± 0.0001 1.9 ± 0.005 141 ± 0.1
Al-2.5 wt% CoFe2O4 57.2 ± 0.0001 2.5 ± 0.005 143 ± 0.1
Al-5 wt% CoFe2O4 64.9 ± 0.0001 2.8 ± 0.005 157 ± 0.1
Al-10 wt% CoFe2O4 71.1 ± 0.0001 3.9 ± 0.005 164 ± 0.1

effect on the hardness of the material, we observed an

enhancement in hardness at higher concentration of nano-
particle (5 and 10 wt% of cobalt ferrite), which confirms
Fig. 4 Differential scanning calorimetric curves for pure aluminum
the hardening effect of cobalt ferrite nanoparticles present
and cobalt ferrite (10 wt%)-reinforced aluminum
both at and along grain boundaries thus retarding grain-
boundary sliding and making the metal matrix intrinsically
of the coarser particles leading to the formation of dis- hard [27].
continuously reinforced metal matrix composite. We also studied the compressive properties of the
A study of thermo-physical properties of cobalt ferrite in composite at room temperature by conducting a number of
aluminum matrix is also of great importance as it has a compressive tests with different concentration of cobalt
significant effect on the interfacial strength which in turn ferrite and the experimental data are shown in Fig. 5. It is
may influence such basic properties as the melting point of well known that nanocrystalline materials exhibit very low
the alloy, its strength and the fracture mechanism. Cobalt ductility and toughness due to lack of strain hardening. It is
ferrite is thermodynamically stable, but in the presence of therefore expected that the presence of crystalline magnetic
aluminum there is a high possibility of formation of cobalt- nanoparticle (MNP) within the coarser aluminum grains
aluminum ferrite according to the reaction. may enhance the mechanical strength at the expense of
xAl þ CoFe2 O4 ! CoAlx Fe1x O4 þ ð1 þ xÞFeX1 ; . . .; Xn ductility. It is clear from the Fig. 5 and Table 2 that with
increased concentration of the MNP, the CoFe2O4-Alumi-
ð2Þ
num composite showed an enhancement of elastic modulus
The DSC/TGA thermogram of the sample with 10 wt% and compressive strength. As expected, the elastic modulus
of cobalt ferrite and pure aluminum are presented in Fig. 4. (E) showed an appreciable increase for higher proportion
The main endothermic peak is located around
642–646.5 °C, which corresponds to the melting of the
aluminum and is defined by the onset temperature
extrapolated from the main inflexion peak. As expected,
the melting temperature and enthalpy decrease with the
inclusion of cobalt ferrite particle due to the formation of
cobalt-aluminum ferrite and increase with Fe level in the
matrix.

Mechanical properties

Table 2 illustrates the variation of microhardness of cobalt

ferrite-reinforced aluminum at an indentation load of 0.1
KN. As anticipated, there is an increase in the hardness of
the composite samples due to densification at the higher
wt% of cobalt ferrite. In addition to densification, the
observed porosity and Al-cobalt ferrite bonding may be the
additional factors affecting the hardness of the pressed Fig. 5 Stress–Strain curves of the cobalt ferrite-reinforced aluminum
powder. Although the presence of porosity has a negative pellets obtained from compression tests

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of the nanoparticle. However, the quantitative value of

elastic modulus is somewhat dependent on the type of
measurement with dynamic testing methods tending to give
larger values than static methods. The other factors which
may influence the measurement of elastic modulus are the
presence of thermal residual stresses caused by the differ-
ence of coefficient of thermal expansion between the
matrix and the nanoparticles. The situation may be further
complicated by the inhomogeneous distribution of the
particles which may result in local plasticity. Although it
rather difficult to model the behavior of elastic modulus
and experimentally separate the contribution of various
factors affecting it, the dominant factor affecting the elastic
modulus obtained from the elastic portion of the com-
pressive stress–strain curve is definitely the weight per-
centage of the reinforcement. Fig. 6 Graphical representation showing the variation of microhard-
The ultimate compressive strength showed a 17.9 % ness with ultimate compressive strength
increase for the highest nanoparticle concentration (10 wt%
of cobalt ferrite) compared to the unreinforced aluminum. In rucs ¼ 2:5ðHÞ  1:42; with Adj: R2 ¼ 0:998 ð3Þ
the present study, the particle sizes of the Al-powder forming The results revealed that the magnitude of hardness and
the base matrix are larger than the cobalt ferrite particles and ultimate compressive strength is dependent on the mutually
therefore the introduction of the cobalt ferrite particles in the interactive influences of the resistances offered to the
aluminum matrix can restrain the growth of Al-grains during motion of dislocations and the plastic deformation capa-
the sintering process. As the cobalt ferrite particles are located bilities of the metal matrix. However, for higher concen-
at the grain boundaries in the aluminum matrix, they cannot tration of the reinforcing particles (greater than 2.5 wt% of
contribute to strength by Orowan mechanism [6, 28]. How- cobalt ferrite) the above relationship between hardness and
ever, the small Al grain sizes of the composite can contribute compressive strength was not observed. These results
significantly to the strength [6]. Another possible explanation imply that the presence of reinforcement particles signifi-
for such high strength could be hardening resulting from cantly alters the intrinsic hardness-strength correlation
dislocations generated due to difference in coefficients of observed in the alloy reinforced with lower concentration
thermal expansion between the reinforcing particles and the of cobalt ferrite. A possible explanation to rationalize these
matrix in the process of cooling from the sintering tempera- experimental findings can be related to the localized nature
ture [29]. It is also worth mentioning that the strengthening of of indentation loading observed in particle reinforced metal
a composite is also dependent on the ability to transfer the matrix composites observed by Shen et al. [30]. The effect
stress generated in the matrix to the stronger reinforcing of reinforcement becomes more prominent with the
particles which in turn depends on the interfacial bond decreasing matrix strength and the hardness value tend to
between the matrix and the reinforcement particles. A weak overestimate the measured compressive strength as a result
interfacial bond will break even before the effective stress is of increase in particle concentration at the vicinity of the
transferred to the particle, and strengthening will not be indentation, compared to regions far away from the
achieved. As noted previously, the formation of cobalt-alu- depression caused by the indentation [30].
minum ferrite at the junction of the aluminum matrix and Figure 7a–e show the confocal micrograph and fracto-
cobalt ferrite particles provides a strong aluminum-cobalt graphs which indicate the formation and propagation of
ferrite bond thereby increasing its mechanical strength. cracks on the surface of the composite at the limit of
Further, we have also made an attempt to investigate the mechanical failure. The fracture surface of the monolithic
correlation between the microhardness and compressive aluminum and aluminum with low concentration of hard
strength of the material under study by plotting a curve fit inclusions (1 wt% cobalt ferrite) showed large deformation
(Fig. 6) between the microhardness values obtained from which is indicative of the ductile nature of the fracture [31].
the vicker tests and ultimate compressive strength obtained The micrographs of the fractured samples with higher
from the stress–strain curves. For low concentration of the concentration of cobalt ferrite (Fig. 6c–e) showed con-
reinforcing particles (up to 2.5 wt% of cobalt ferrite), a choidal type fracture with cracks initiating in the radial
linear relationship between ultimate compressive strength direction of the sample perpendicular to the applied stress.
(rucs) and microhardness (H) was observed and could be The macrostructural difference in fracture mechanism
expressed by the relation as of monolithic aluminum and cobalt ferrite-reinforced

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J Mater Sci

Fig. 7 3-D confocal images of

fractured surface of cobalt
ferrite-reinforced aluminum
composite a pure aluminum,
b Al-1 wt % CoFe2O4,
c Al-2.5 wt% CoFe2O4,
d Al-5 wt% CoFe2O4,
e Al-10 wt% CoFe2O4.
f Fractographs of broken
surfaces

aluminum samples (Fig. 7) indicates the increased brittle- load, the fracture those are originally present at the inter-
ness of the sample which can be attributed to the presence face of the phase starts initiating within void clusters. This
of a harder and brittle phase in the matrix [32]. The change kind of macrostructural difference in fracture mechanism
in the fracture mode can also be explained on the basis of results in a sequence of void nucleation, void growth, and
thermal stresses that are generated due to mismatch of void annihilation in the matrix. However, the presence of
thermal expansion coefficients between the aluminum strong constraints against deformation and crack propaga-
matrix and the inclusions when the composite is cooled tion provided by the hard inclusions results in crack
down from a sintering temperature. Since the thermal defection making the fracture mechanism unique.
expansion coefficient of aluminum (24.66 9 10-6 °C-1)
[33] is different than that of ferrites [34], compressive Magnetic analysis
stresses are produced in the aluminum matrix [35]. Taya
et al. [36] have indicated that the thermal stresses are It is well known that the magnetic properties of CoFe2O4
proportional to the amount of inclusions. As the thermal depend on the chemical nature of Co2? since Fe3? species
stresses in the sample increase with the amount of inclu- distributed in the structure at tetrahedral and octahedral
sions, the sample becomes brittle and under compressive interstices and are antiferromagnetically coupled. Such

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 J Mater Sci

magnetization (Ms) is the result of non-magnetic aluminum

matrix, thus affecting the magnitude or uniformity of
magnetization. The coercivity of nanomaterials, however,
depends on several factors which include (i) intrinsic fac-
tors, which mainly depend on magnetocrystalline surface
and shape anisotropy and (ii) extrinsic factors, generally
related to interactions between particles [39]. The last
factor, i.e., the interaction among the nanoparticles such as
interparticle interaction has a significant influence on
coercivity.
The magnetic anisotropy at room temperature of the
sample was investigated by the law of approach to satu-
ration. The magnetic anisotropy constant K1 was calculated
by the relation [40].


M ðH Þ ¼ Ms 1  A=H 2 þ vp H ð4Þ

Fig. 8 Magnetization-hysteresis loops of pure aluminum and cobalt where A is the (8 K21/105l2oM2S), MS is the saturation
ferrite-reinforced aluminum composite magnetization after taking into consideration the magnetic
packing fraction of cobalt ferrite in the aluminum matrix,
coupling cancels the moment contribution from Fe3? and H is the applied field, vp is the high field susceptibility
hence the moment contribution is solely dependent on originating from the increase in the number of spins, which
Co2? [37, 38]. It is expected that incorporation of ferro- has the same direction in a domain, and K1 is the first order
magnetic cobalt ferrite in the Al matrix may cause changes cubic anisotropy coefficient. The magnetic anisotropy
in the magnetic properties of the material. From our pre- value calculated for the sample with 1 wt% cobalt ferrite
vious studies, the saturation magnetization of CoFe2O4 was was found to be 0.45 9 105 Jm-3 which increased to
found to be 64.9 emu/g with a coercivity of 539 Oe [18]. In 1.82 9 105 Jm-3 for the sample with 10 wt% of cobalt
the present study, both saturation magnetization and coer- ferrite in the matrix. These anisotropy values are less than
civity values were extracted from the hysteresis loops in the reported values of anisotropy for cobalt ferrite at
Fig. 8. The magnetization and coercivity value were found 300 K, which ranges from 2.1 9 105 to 3.9 9 105 Jm-3.
to be 3.51 emu/g and 967 Oe, respectively, for the com- This may be caused by lowering of anisotropy energy
posite with 1 wt% of cobalt ferrite which change to a barrier resulting in small anisotropy density as observed in
magnetization value of 17.07 emu/g and coercivity of 583 the case of cobalt-aluminum ferrite with higher Al content
Oe with an increase of ferrite content (10 wt% cobalt fer- [41]. Figure 9 shows the magnetization-temperature (MT)
rite) in the Al matrix (Fig. 8). The low saturation curve obtained from VSM studies on pure cobalt ferrite

Fig. 9 a MT of pure cobalt ferrite. b MT of cobalt ferrite (10 wt%) in aluminum matrix

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J Mater Sci

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