Structure and magnetic properties of mechanically alloyed Co and Co–Ni

Abstract The influence of milling process on magnetic properties of Co and Co–Ni materials is studied. Coercivity, squareness ratio and crystallite size of mechanically alloyed Co–Ni material were related to milling time. For Co material, coercivity, cubic phase ratio and crystallite size were related to milling energy considering the vial and plateau rotation velocities. An artificial neural network (ANN) combining the parameters for both materials is used to predict magnetic and structure results versus milling conditions. Predicted results showed that milling energy is mostly dependent on the ratio vial to plateau rotation velocities and that milling times larger than 40 h do not add significant change to both structure and magnetic responses. Magnetic parameters were correlated to crystallite size and the D 6 law was only valid for small sizes.