Prepared novel Fe soft magnetic composites coated with ZnO by Zn(CH3COO)2 pyrolysis

Abstract In this work, Fe/ZnO soft magnetic composite (SMC) is prepared successfully by sol-gel method combined with a pyrolysis process. Formation mechanism and effect of annealing on magnetic properties for the Fe/ZnO SMCs are studied in detail. The results show that Fe/zinc acetate hydrogel mixture will be decomposed into the Fe/ZnO composites by heating above 340 ℃. And ZnO is well coated on the surfaces of Fe particles. The Fe/ZnO composite compact has lower total core loss and better frequency stability of magnetic permeability compared with pure Fe compact. In addition, annealing treatment shows an enhanced effect on the magnetic properties for the Fe/ZnO composite compact such as reduced coercivity and increased permeability. The annealed Fe/ZnO SMCs can keep stable magnetic permeability (26) from 50 Hz to 10 kHz, high magnetic induction (1.65 T) and a relatively low core loss of 91.11 kW/m3 measured under a magnetic flux density of 30 mT at 10 kHz. Therefore, the Fe/ZnO soft magnetic composites prepared by the above-mentioned method provide a great potential application in electromagnetic conversion equipment.