Rapid solid state synthesis by spark plasma sintering and magnetic properties of LaMnO3 perovskite manganite

Abstract LaMnO 3 oxide was successfully synthesized from La(OH) 3 and Mn 2 O 3 precursors (molar ratio La/Mn = 0.6) using the spark plasma sintering technique (SPS). The in-situ reaction proceeds in a few minutes at 900 °C under 50 MPa with the very high heating rate of 100 °C/min. LaMnO 3 powder was characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and magnetic measurements. The Rietveld refinement of the X-ray powder diffraction shows that LaMnO 3 sample crystallizes in a perovskite structure O′-type orthorhombic symmetry with Pbnm space group. Our sample undergoes an A-type antiferromagnetic order with Neel temperature equal to 138 K. The magnetic susceptibility shows the Curie–Weiss behavior between 170 and 320 K with the effective magnetic moment μ eff  = 4.78 μ B /f.u and the Curie constant θ P  = − 20 K (antiferromagentic sign).