Published online by Cambridge University Press: 21 February 2011
Wtastite-magnetite and magnesia-magnesioferrite nanocrystalline ceramics have been prepared by mechanical milling and spark plasma sintering. As-milled powders have a nanocrystal-line structure in both systems. Low energy milling gives rise to an increasingly higher volume fraction of wfistite as a function of milling time in the Fe1−xO-Fe3O4 system. Similar results are obtained in the MgO-MgFe2O4 system with increasingly larger amounts of MgFe2O4 produced by milling. Composites of magnetic particles (Fe3O4 or MgFe2O4) in a nonconductive matrix (FeO or MgO, respectively) are found in the sintered samples. Measurement of magnetic properties can be used to determine conclusively the nature of the developed phases and the effect of grain size.