Magnetoelectric properties in bulk and layered composites

The purpose of the paper was to present a comparative study on the microstructure and magnetoelectric effect of new magnetoelectric composites based on TbFe₂ compound and Ni_0.3Zn_0.62Cu_0.08Fe₂O₄, CoFe₂O₄ ferrites as a magnetostrictive phase, Pb(Fe_1/2Ta_1/2)O₃ (PFT), Pb(Fe_1/2Nb_1/2)O₃ relaxors as a ferroelectric phase and polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) as piezoelectric phase.

The ceramic components of composites were prepared by the standard solid-state reaction method. The intermetallic compound TbFe₂ was prepared with an arc melting system with a contact-less ignition in a high purity argon atmosphere. The metal – ceramic – polymer composites were prepared in a container in which powder of PVDF were dissolved in N,N-dimethylformamide with continuous mixing and at the controlled temperature. Ceramic composites were prepared as bulk samples and multilayer tape cast and co-sintered laminates. The microstructure of the composites was investigated using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The magnetoelectric effect of the composites was evaluated at room temperature by means of the dynamic lock-in method.

SEM analysis revealed a dense, fine-grained microstructure and uniform distribution of the metallic, ferrite and relaxor grains in the bulk composites. The SEM image for multilayer composite illustrates the lack of cracks or delaminations at the phase boundaries between the well-sintered ferrite and relaxor layers. For all studied composites, the magnetoelectric coefficients at a lower magnetic field increase, reaches a maximum and then decreases.

The progress in electronic technology is directly linked to advances made in materials science. Exploring and characterizing new materials with interesting magnetoelectric properties, in the rapidly growing field of functional materials, is an important task. The paper reports on processing, microstructure and magnetoelectric properties of novel magnetoelectric composites.