2008 Volume 49 Issue 8 Pages 1830-1835
Fe and Al nanocomposites have been prepared using the plasma-gas-condensation cluster deposition system and investigated by transmission electron microscope and magnetization measurements. In Fe-Al alloy clusters assemblies prepared with the single glow discharge source there are bcc Fe-Al and B2-type ordered FeAl phases. In Fe/Al cluster composites prepared with double glow discharge sources, core-shell clusters are obtained: Fe cores are covered by Al and/or Al-oxide crystallites. In magnetization curves of the Fe-Al alloy cluster assembly and Fe/Al cluster composite, magnetic coercivity values are much smaller than that of an Fe cluster assembly. These results indicate that Fe-rich ferromagnetic Fe-Al phases exist in the Fe-Al alloy cluster assembly and Fe cores are covered and their magnetic coupling are weakened by Al and/or Al-oxide layers in the Fe/Al cluster composite.