Characterization of Magnetic and Magnetoelectric Properties in Soft Ferrite–PFT–PT Bulk Composite

The magnetoelectric effect in multiferroic materials is widely studied for its fundamental interest and practical applications. The magnetoelectric effect observed for single-phase materials like Cr2O3, BiFeO3, and Pb(Fe0.5Nb0.5)O3 is usually small. A much larger effect can be obtained in composites consisting of magnetostrictive and piezoelectric phases. This paper investigates the magnetoelectric properties of nickel ferrite Ni0.3Zn0.62Cu0.08Fe2O4–relaxor Pb(Fe0.5Ta0.5)O3–PbTiO3 bulk composite. The magnetic properties of the composite show a dependence typical of such materials, i.e., it consists of a dominating signal from the ferrimagnetic phase (ferrite) and a weak signal from the paramagnetic (antiferromagnetic) phase (relaxor). The magnetoelectric effect at room temperature was investigated as a function of a static magnetic field (300–6500 Oe) and frequency (10 Hz–10 kHz) of a sinusoidally modulated magnetic field. The magnetoelectric effect increases slightly before reaching a maximum at HDC = 750 Oe and then decreases.