Effect of gamma and neutron irradiations on the physical, magnetic and electrical properties of Ni–Cu–Cd nano-ferrites

The physical, magnetic and electrical properties variations for the sol-gel auto combustion synthesized Ni0.3Cu0.2Cd0.5Fe2O4 by gamma (γ) and neutron irradiations dose applications are studied in this research. The irradiation have been done through 2.0 × 1011 and 1.9 × 1012 cm−2s−1 per min fast neutron flux and γ rays from the research reactor of TRIGA MARK-II and 64 KCi cylindrical 60Co source respectively within room temperature. The rate of 1 Mrad and 3 Mrad dose is 1.067 Mrad/h. XRD results show greater intensities for the irradiation doses. Due to the redistribution of ions, changes in the lattice constant have been found by the irradiation through the results of XRD and Rietveld Refinement process. The saturated magnetization obtained from the VSM is found to decrease first by the irradiation and then increase drastically. This analysis is performed by the popular pulse field technique of hysteresis loop for nano ferrites and further analyzed by LAS. The frequency dependent characteristics such as dielectric constant, electric modulus, impedance analysis and ac conductivity are inspected for all samples with both types of irradiation process. The electrical modulus Cole-Cole plots insure the dominant property as electric stiffness for investigated ferrties. Extreme decrease has been found in the dielectric natures which also show good agreement in the higher ac conductivity nature at the higher frequencies. Electrical parametric dependent overlapping two semicircles which are not complete have been found in the plots of Cole-Cole for impedance data. The energy of activation for the process of diffusion decreases by the irradiation. © 2024 Elsevier Ltd