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Title: Immiscibility in the Nickel Ferrite-Zinc Ferrite Spinel Binary

Journal Article ·
OSTI ID:886935

Immiscibility in the trevorite (NiFe{sub 2}O{sub 4}) - franklinite (ZnFe{sub 2}O{sub 4}) spinel binary is investigated by reacting 1:1:2 molar ratio mixtures of NiO, ZnO and Fe{sub 2}O{sub 3} in a molten salt solvent at temperatures in the range 400-1000 C. Single phase stability is demonstrated down to about 730 C (the estimated consolute solution temperature, T{sub cs}). A miscibility gap/solvus exists below Tcs. The solvus becomes increasingly asymmetric at lower temperatures and extrapolates to n - values = 0.15, 0.8 at 300 C. A thermodynamic analysis, which accounts for changes in configurational and magnetic ordering entropies during cation mixing, predicts solvus phase compositions at room temperature in reasonable agreement with those determined by extrapolation of experimental results. The delay between disappearance of magnetic ordering above T{sub C} = 590 C (for NiFe{sub 2}O{sub 4}) and disappearance of a miscibility gap at T{sub cs} is explained by the persistence of long-range ordering correlations in a quasi-paramagnetic region above T{sub C}.

Research Organization:
Knolls Atomic Power Lab. (KAPL), Niskayuna, NY (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE
DOE Contract Number:
DE-AC12-00SN39357
OSTI ID:
886935
Report Number(s):
LM-06K067; TRN: US200617%%394
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English