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Effect of milling on the magnetic properties of Al-Mn obtained by mechanical alloying

Abstract:

Al-Mn powders were prepared to obtain the compound Mn 42Al 58 by mechanical alloying. The powders were milled during different periods (1 h, 5 h, 11.5 h, 15 h, 20 h and 50 h) using a SPEX 8000 mixer mill in nitrogen atmosphere. The materials were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and magnetic properties at room temperature, using a vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM). XRD shows partial transformation to α-Mn after only 1 h of milling and a mixture of α-Mn and β-Mn after 11.5 h of milling and further milling resulted in transformation to β-Mn phase with a grain size of 6 nm after 50 h. The change in magnetic properties with milling time is quite dramatic, from a ferromagnetic behavior for α-Mn(Al) to paramagnetic after 11.5 h of milling and showing again ferromagnetic behavior, with a strong increase of magnetization values of 5.5 emu/g, after 50 h of milling with formation of β-Mn(Al). © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.