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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 17 March 2011
A new Ag-Sm-Fe nanocomposite material was obtained by high-energy ball-milling of elemental μ-Fe powder and melt-spun Ag-Sm flakes. Magnetic Fe nanocrystals were thus embedded in a paramagnetic Ag-based matrix. Synchrotron radiation powder diffraction and temperature dependent Mössbauer spectroscopy were used to study the nanometer scale Fe/Ag(Sm) intermixing mechanism. The evolution of the average grain size and microstrains in the Ag-based matrix vs. the milling time were obtained from the analysis of the X-ray diffraction linewidths. For reference Fe powder samples, a bimodal grain size distribution was evidenced by Mössbauer spectroscopy. The magnetic behaviour of the Fe nanocrystals was analysed with respect to the superparamagnetic relaxation effect and collective excitations. The nanometer scale intermixing of Fe nanocrystals in the Ag-based matrix is completed when the Fe and matrix grains have comparable dimensions.