Study of morphology and magnetic properties of the HoNi{sub 3} crystalline and ball-milled compound
The morphology and magnetic properties of the HoNi{sub 3} crystalline and ball-milled intermetallic compounds are presented. The polycrystalline HoNi{sub 3} bulk compound crystallizes in the rhombohedral PuNi{sub 3} — type of crystal structure and indicates ferrimagnetic arrangement with the Curie temperature of T{sub C} = 57 ± 2 K, the helimagnetic temperature T{sub h} = 23 ± 2 K with the total saturation magnetic moment of 6.84 μ{sub B}/f.u. at 2 K. The use of the ball-milling method leads to the formation of HoNi{sub 3} nanoflakes with typical thickness of less than 100 nm prone to agglomeration upon milling. The increase of grinding duration leads to the reduction in crystallite size, which was confirmed by various complementary microscopical and diffraction studies. Moreover, the increase in milling duration results in the emergence of the relatively small coercivity (H{sub C}), remanence (M{sub r}) and a variation of the saturation magnetization (M{sub S}). - Graphical abstract: Display Omitted - Highlights: • The ball-milling method exhibits significant potential for producing RT{sub 3} nanopowders. • The AFM method was used for the first time in analysis of R–T nanoflakes morphology. • HoNi{sub 3} compound forms polycrystalline and textured nanoflakes evolving upon milling. • The decrease in crystallite size via grinding is confirmed by XRD, TEM and AFM. • The magnetic parameters were sensitive to the extension of pulverization b.