IN-SITU PREPARATION AND MAGNETIC PROPERTIES OF Fe₃O₄/WOOD COMPOSITE

Fe₃O₄/wood composite, a magnetic material, was prepared by In-situ chemosynthesis method at room temperature. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) shows that the average partical size of Fe₃O₄ was about 14 nm. The magnetic properties of the resulting composites were investigated by vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM). The composites have saturation magnetization (M_s) values from 4.7 to 25.3 emu/g with the increase of weight percent gains (WPG) of the wood for the composites, but coercive forces (H_c) are invariable, which is different from the magnetic materials reported before. It may be due to the fact that the interaction between wood and Fe₃O₄ becomes stronger when less of Fe₃O₄ particles are introduced in the composition, and this also changes the surface anisotropy (K_s) of the magnetism. A structural characterization by Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) proved the interaction between Fe₃O₄ particles and wood matrix, and it also illustrates that this interaction influences the coercive force of the composite.