Investigation of the Composition and Electromagnetic Properties of Lithium Ferrite LiFe5O8 Ceramics Synthesized from Ultradisperse Iron Oxide

Structural, magnetic, and electric characteristics of LiFe5O8 synthesized from ultradisperse iron oxide powder are investigated. The basic Fe2O3 reagent is prepared by oxidation of iron nanopowder with particle sizes of 100 nm synthesized by the electroexplosive method. It is demonstrated that LiFe5O8 is characterized by fine-grained ceramic structure with average grain size of 1.4 μm, high values of the Curie temperature (~630°С), specific electrical resistance (107 Ω⋅cm), and saturation magnetization (>3300 G). Thus, lithium ferrite so obtained without additives has the parameters suitable for its application as a microwave ferrite material. It is also demonstrated that addition of bismuth ferrite to the lithium ferrite composition during its sintering yields lower values of the specific electrical resistance and relatively high values of the density and saturation magnetization.