Effect of milling time on the structural, microstructure, and magnetic properties of nanocrystalline Fe90Sb10 powders obtained by high-energy ball milling

Nanocrystalline binary powders Fe 90 Sb 10 (wt.%) have been elaborated by high-energy ball milling in order to study the effect of the milling time on the microstructural and magnetic properties of these alloys. The evolution of structural, morphological, and magnetic properties was investigated, as a function of milling time, using X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) coupled with energy-dispersive X-ray spectrometry (EDX), and the vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM). A disordered Fe (Sb) solid solution with body-centered cubic (bcc) crystal structure is formed after 12 h of milling from XRD results. When the milling time increases, the lattice parameter progressively increases from 0.2861 for the Fe 90 Sb 10 (0 h milling) compound down to 0.2870 nm for 36 h of milling. The sample with the longest milling time has exhibited the lowest value for the mean grain size of 18.16 nm as well as the microstrain of 0.19%. Grain morphology of the powders at different formation stages was examined using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The chemical composition homogeneity and the powder form Fe 90 Sb 10 (wt.%) were studied with EDX experiments. For Fe-10Sb (wt.%) nanostructured powders, magnetisation saturation, coercive fields, and remnant magnetisation derived from the hysteresis curves were discussed as a function of milling time.