Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research B 269 (2011) 20262031

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Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research B

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Modications in structural, cation distribution and magnetic properties

of 60Co gamma irradiated Li-ferrite
Maheshkumar L. Mane, Sagar E. Shirsath , Vinod N. Dhage, K.M. Jadhav
Department of Physics, Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Marathwada University, Aurangabad (M.S.) 431 004, India

a r t i c l e

i n f o

Article history:
Received 16 March 2011
Received in revised form 7 June 2011
Available online 13 June 2011
Keywords:
Ferrites
Gamma irradiation
Cation distribution
Diffusion coefcient
Dielectric constant

a b s t r a c t
Polycrystalline samples of Li0.5Fe2.5O4 ferrite precursor were prepared by conventional standard double
sintering ceramic technique and then irradiated with three different doses of 60Co gamma rays. The crystal structure and phase orientation of the irradiated and unirradiated samples of Li0.5Fe2.5O4 ferrite was
done by using X-ray diffraction technique at room temperature. The lattice parameter of the studied samples increased due to the formation of Fe2+ ions under the ionizing effect of gamma radiation. The strain
in the materials due to the irradiation was calculated from XRD data. Scanning electron microscope (SEM)
studies indicate that the irradiation causes amorphization, especially at the grain boundaries. The cation
distribution was calculated from XRD data analysis. By using cation distribution structural parameters
such as theoretical lattice constant, ionic radii of available sites and the oxygen parameter u have been
calculated. The estimated cation distribution and other structural parameters shows strong inuence of
gamma rays on polycrystalline Li-ferrite. The magnetic properties of irradiated and unirradiated lithium
ferrite were performed by using pulse eld hysteresis loop technique at room temperature. Electrical
properties such as diffusion coefcient and dielectric properties were carried out with the inuence of
gamma irradiation. Activation energy of diffusion process decreased after irradiation. The increase of diffusion coefcient with increasing dose rate of gamma irradiation was reinforced by the increase of Fe2+
ions and the displacement of metal ions from its original sites under the effect of gamma irradiation.
2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
Ferrite materials have attracted a considerable attention of the
researchers for last few decades due to their interesting soft magnetic properties and high frequency applications. Ferrites have
very high dielectric constants and are useful in designing good
microwave devices such as isolators, circulators etc. [1]. A proper
choice of cations along with Fe2+, Fe3+, and their distribution between tetrahedral A- and octahedral B-sites in the spinel lattice,
imparts useful and interesting electrical and magnetic properties
to the spinel ferrites. Lithium ferrite (Li0.5Fe2.5O4) is a spinel-type
soft ferrite with high saturation magnetization, high Curie temperature, and square-loop hysteresis properties. Because of its superior magnetic properties, lithium ferrite is used in microwave
and memory core applications. Li0.5Fe2.5O4 is an inverse spinel with
the Li1+ and three-fths of the Fe3+ ions occupying the octahedral
B-sites of the cubic spinel structure of the general formula AB2O4
[2]. The study of electrode materials for rechargeable lithium ion
batteries remains a major topic in the area of energy storage.

Corresponding author. Tel.: +91 2402240950, +91 2402403384; fax: +91

2402361270.
E-mail address: [email protected] (S.E. Shirsath).
0168-583X/$ - see front matter 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.nimb.2011.06.005

Transition metal oxides are promising candidates as cathode materials for lithium secondary batteries [36].
The irradiation with gamma rays produces defects in the materials which inuences the structural, morphological and magnetic
properties of ferrites. Regarding the change in structural properties
of these systems when irradiated by gamma rays, it has been reported that it may be due to breaking of ferrimagnetic ordering,
surface state pinning, cation inversion, etc. Recently, the material
scientists are doing numerous experiments to study the effects of
different irradiation such as swift heavy ions [7], laser [8], gamma
ray [9], on the properties of ferrite materials depending upon the
desired applications. The properties of lithium ferrites can be
tailor-made by irradiating them with gamma rays for microwave
applications. In the present work, we systematically report our
results on the effect of different gamma ray doses on the structural,
morphological, magnetic and electrical properties of Li-ferrite.
2. Experimental
Polycrystalline samples of Li0.5Fe2.5O4 spinel ferrite were prepared by using conventional double sintering ceramic technique.
The details of method of preparation were discussed in our previous reports [1012]. The sample prepared by using this method
was treated as a precursor for the gamma irradiation study. The

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M.L. Mane et al. / Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research B 269 (2011) 20262031

pellets of Li0.5Fe2.5O4 synthesized material was irradiated with different doses (1, 2 and 3 Mrad) of energetic 60Co gamma radiations
with the dose rate of 140 rad/min.
X-ray diffraction patterns for irradiated and unirradiated samples were performed on Philips X-ray diffractometer with Cu ka
radiations (wavelength k = 1.548 ) at room temperature in 2h
range of 2080. The morphological analysis of irradiated and
unirradiated samples was determined by scanning electron
microscopy technique. The compositional stoichiometry was conrmed by EDAX analysis. The cation distribution was calculated
from XRD data analysis. Magnetic measurements of irradiated
and unirradiated ferrite samples were performed on pulse eld
hysteresis loop tracer at room temperature. The DC electrical resistivity of the samples was measured using the two-probe method in
which silver paste was used as a contact material. The dielectric
constant was measured as a function of frequency by using the
LCR-Q meter (Model HP 4284 A). The infrared (IR) spectra in the
range of 400800 cm1 were recorded using PerkinElmer
spectrometer.
3. Results and discussion
3.1. X-ray diffraction analysis
X-ray diffraction patterns for the unirradiated and irradiated
samples Li0.5Fe2.5O4 was depicted in Fig. 1. The unirradiated sample
of Li0.5Fe2.5O4 ferrite shows single phase cubic spinel structure.
XRD patterns shows small shift of the reection peaks to lower values of 2h and increase of the peak intensities for irradiated samples. Due to gamma irradiation defects were created in the
crystal lattice and the compressive strain was produced. This result
shows distortion in the cubic spinel structure after gamma irradiation. c-Irradiation can inuence the crystallization process. The
lattice parameter was calculated from the following relation.
2

kh k l 1=2
2 sin h

(311)

500

400

300

The values of lattice parameter obtained from X-ray diffraction data

is shown in Fig. 2. The lattice parameter increases after irradiation
as a result of 0the formation of ferrous ions (Fe2+) which
have a large
0
radius (0.74 A
) than that of ferric ions (Fe3+) (0.64
A) [13].
The average crystallite size DXRD of powder estimated from the
most intense (3 1 1) peak of XRD and using the Scherrer method
[14],

DXRD

Ck
B1=2 cos h

where B1/2 is the full width of half maximum in (2h), h is the corresponding Bragg angle and C = 0.9. The variations of crystallite size
are shown in Fig. 2 and it shows the increasing trend with increasing dose rate of gamma irradiation. This is because the c-radiation
changed
the ferric ions to ferrous ions. The radius0 of the ferrous ions
0
(0.74
A), is larger than that of ferric ions (0.67 A
), which increased
the size of the crystal after c-radiation. Further, the number of ferrous ions at the octahedral sites which take part in the electron exchange interaction Fe3+ M Fe2+ and hence are responsible for the
increase of the crystal size because ferric ions of smaller diameter
moved from the A sites to B sites as ferrous ions of larger diameter
after c-radiation. Thus, the number of ferrous ions on the octahedral
sites plays a dominant role in the increase of the crystallite size due
to irradiation damage by c-rays [15].
The compressive strain produced in the irradiated samples and
effective crystallite size was determined from XRD line width using
Scherrer formula modied by WilliamsonHall equation [16].

b cos h

0:9k
4e sin h
D

where b is the full width at half maximum (FWHM) (in radians) of

the XRD peaks, h is the Bragg angle, k is the X-ray wavelength, D is
the effective crystallite size, and e is the value of internal strain. This
gives an equation of a straight line between b cos h and 4 sin h. Plotting b cos h (y-axis) and 4 sin h (x-axis), the slope of the line gives
the strain (e). Fig. 3 shows the strain measurements of all the samples. It is observed that the variation of 4 sin h with b cos h is linear
for all the samples. The straight lines obtained were extrapolated to
y-axis so as to measure the effective crystallite size. The strain measured from the slope of the lines shows increasing trend with the
increasing gamma dose. It is observed from Fig. 3 that the ratio
b cos h/4 sin h shows a continuous increase with increase in dose
rate, which suggests that in Li0.5Fe2.5O4 ferrite compressive stain
developed after irradiation.

Intensity (Arb Units)

200

36.4

36.6

8.336

(533)

(422)

(310)

8.334

3.5
3.4

a
D

3.3

36.2

Lattice constant 'a' (A )

36.0

(333)

35.8

(400)

35.6

(440)

35.4

(d)
(c)
(b)

3.2

8.332

3.1
8.330

3.0
2.9

8.328
2.8

(a)

2.7

8.326

20

30

40

50

60

Crystallite size 'D' (m)

(210)
(211)

(220)

100

70

80

2 (Degree)
Fig. 1. X-ray diffraction pattern (a) unirradiated, (b) 1 Mrad, (c) 2 Mrad and (d)
3 Mrad c-dose irradiated Li0.5Fe2.5O4.

Unirradiated

1 Mrad

2 Mrad

3 Mrad

Dose rate
Fig. 2. Variation of lattice constant (a) and crystallite size (D) for unirradiated and
c-irradiated Li0.5Fe2.5O4.

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M.L. Mane et al. / Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research B 269 (2011) 20262031

0.0044

0.0040

cos

Before
1 Mrad
2 Mrad
3 Mrad

0.0042

0.0038
0.0036
0.0034
0.0032
0.0030
0.8

1.0

1.2

1.4

1.6

1.8

2.0

2.2

2.4

2.6

4 sin
Fig. 3. WilliamsonHall plots for unirradiated and c-irradiated Li0.5Fe2.5O4.

3.2. Morphological analysis

The surface morphological analysis of gamma ray irradiated
Li-ferrite analyzed from scanning electron microscopy (SEM) technique is shown in Fig. 4ac. The SEM results showed that the defects were created in the material after irradiation which results
in increase in grain size and formation of some amorphous structure. The grain size was determined from SEM microphotographs
of fractured surface of the pellets by linear intercept method [17]
and it also shows increasing trend with increasing gamma radiation dose. The SEM pictures of these samples show present blurred
grain boundaries for irradiated samples. This implies that, due to
irradiation, while there is no change in grain structure there is
some amorphization at the grain boundaries. This can be attributed
to the fact that the weak grain boundary region is susceptible for
damage due to energy deposition by ions [18].

3.3. Cation distribution

The intensities of the planes (2 2 0), (4 2 2) and (4 0 0) planes
were used to estimate the cation distribution using the formula
suggested by Buerger [19]. The intensity ratios of the planes
I(2 2 0)/I(4 0 0), I(2 2 0)/I(4 4 0) and I(4 0 0)/I(4 4 0) are considered
to be sensitive to the cation distribution [20]. The ionic conguration based on the site preference energy value for individual cation
suggest that Li1+ and Fe3+ ions can occupy both tetrahedral A- and
octahedral B-sites. Finally the cation distribution is estimated for
the best t of X-ray intensity ratio and is presented in Table 1 along
with iron distribution parameter. It is clear from Table 1 that there
is a change in the cation distribution for samples before and after
irradiation. The cation distributions clearly indicated the redistribution of the cations in the A- and B-sites induced. Some of the
Li1+ ions are transferred from B sites to A sites with a value which
depends on the dose rate. The change in cation distribution data
may be due to the formation of Fe2+ ions at octahedral sites after
gamma irradiation. The mean ionic radius of the tetrahedral (A)
and octahedral [B] sites (rA and rB) can be calculated using the relations discussed elsewhere [21,22]. It is observed from Fig. 5 that rA
increases whereas rB decreases with increasing dose rate. The increase in rA is due to migration of Li+ 0 ions from B-site to A-site
which is having larger ionic
radii (0.78
A) as compared to Fe3+ ions
0
whose ionic radii is (0.67
A).
The theoretical values of the lattice parameter can be calculated
with the help of following equation [23]

Fig. 4. Scanning electron microscopy images (a) unirradiated, (b) 1 Mrad and (c)
3 Mrad c-irradiated Li0.5Fe2.5O4.

ath

i
p
8 ph
3 rA R0 3r B R0
3

where rA and rB are radii of tetrahedral (A) site and octahedral [B]
site, R0 is radius of oxygen ion i.e. (R0 = 1.32 ). The variation of theoretical values is similar to that observed for the experimentally
determined lattice parameter. The value of ath for the given cation
distribution was estimated to be 8.39 , which is close to the
experimental value of lattice parameter. The agreement between
theoretical and experimental values conrms the proposed cation
distribution is correct.
0
Using the values of a, radius of oxygen ion R0 = 1.32
A and rA
in the following expression, the oxygen positional parameter u
can be calculated, [24]

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M.L. Mane et al. / Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research B 269 (2011) 20262031
Table 1
3
Cation distribution, iron distribution parameter (d Fe3
A =FeB ), magnetic moment
(nB) and activation energy (E) for unirradiated and irradiated samples of the system
Li0.5Fe2.5O4.
Cation distribution

Unirradiated
1 Mrad
2 Mrad
3 Mrad

(d)

A-site

B-site

Li0.04Fe0.96
Li0.05Fe0.95
Li0.06Fe0.94
Li0.07Fe0.93

Li0.46Fe1.54
Li0.45Fe1.55
Li0.44Fe1.56
Li0.43Fe1.57

0.62
0.61
0.60
0.59

nB (lB)

2.9
3.0
3.1
3.2

80
Unirradiated
1 Mrad
2 Mrad
3 Mrad

E (eV)

0.27
0.25
0.22
0.19

60
40
20
0

-6

-4

-2

-20

Mean ionic radii ()

rA
rB
u

0.3865

0.685
0.3864
0.680

0.675

Oxygen parameter 'u' ()

0.690

-40

0.3866

0.695

0.3863
Unirradiated

1 Mrad

2 Mrad

3 Mrad

Dose rate
Fig. 5. Variation of mean ionic radii at tetrahedral A site (rA), octahedral B site (rB)
and oxygen positional parameter for unirradiated and c-irradiated Li0.5Fe2.5O4.



1
1
u r A R0 p
3a 4

Fig. 5 shows increasing value of oxygen positional parameter u

from with increasing dose rate of gamma irradiation. This result is
obtained because of the small displacement of anions due to the
expansion of the tetrahedral interstices (rA) with increasing dose
rate of gamma irradiation.
3.4. Magnetic properties
The magnetic hysteresis (MH) loops for Li0.5Fe2.5O4 spinel ferrite with various dose rate was measured at room temperature
with the applied eld of 5 kOe is shown in Fig. 6. The magnetization increases as the dose rate increases. The MH loops observed
in the present study show that the cation distribution has changed
after irradiation. The interesting observation is that the irradiation
process leads to an enhancement of the magnetization. The increase in magnetization with increasing grain size is due to the decrease in cation inversion parameter and hence the strength of
superexchange interaction between Fe3+ ions in A- and B-sites. It
is seen that the irradiation process enhances the magnetic hardness of the ferrite. The improvement in the hardness of the oxides
is due to the formation of disordered crystal structure. The
enhancement in magnetization of the Li0.5Fe2.5O4 spinel ferrite
sample is because of the structural disorder (cation redistribution)
introduced by irradiation. The net magnetic moment (nB)cal is given
by the sum of the magnetic moments of A- and B-sublattices, i.e.
(nB)cal = MB  MA. The values of calculated magnetic moment are
given in Table 1. It is observed that the magnetic moment is increased with increase in gamma irradiation, this is due to the
increase in magnetization.
A comparative study of saturation magnetization and magneton
number for the irradiated and unirradiated sample clearly

-60
-80
Fig. 6. Magnetic properties of irradiated and unirradiated Li0.5Fe2.5O4.

indicates that the saturation magnetization increases after irradiation by gamma rays. On irradiation the surface state pinning of domains are release and the magnetization of the particles is
increases [25]. Our results are contradictory with those reported
by Ghidini et al. [26] and Parvatheeswara Rao et al. [27]. This
may be due to the swift heavy ion irradiation produces adverse effect on the magnetic ordering and therefore on overall magnetization values of the system. In the present case of gamma irradiation,
with the dosage more Fe3+ ion tries to accommodate in octahedral
[B] sites which on contribute slightly positive to the magnetization
values.
3.5. Diffusion coefcient
The diffusion coefcient (D) of oxygen vacancies was estimated
from the relation [28]

rk B T
Ne2

where r is the DC electrical conductivity, N is the number of atoms/

m3 equal to 4  1028 m3, e is the electronic charge, and kB is the
Boltzmann constant. The diffusion coefcient of oxygen vacancies
for Li0.5Fe2.5O4 ferrite before and after irradiation is illustrated in
Fig. 7 as a function of temperature. It is observed from Fig. 7 that
the diffusion coefcient increases with increasing temperature.
The increase of temperature increases the mobility of vacancies
which make more oxygen vacancies to be diffused. The diffusion
of oxygen ions occurs when defects or structural vacancies are present in the lattice. In the given samples with increasing dose rate,
some of the Li+ ions at B-site migrated to A-sites which leads to
the migration of ferric ions from the tetrahedral sites to octahedral
sites. A noticeable increase in the diffusion coefcient after the irradiation was observed in Fig. 7. This could be explained on the basis
of interaction of ionizing gamma radiation with the material generally gives rise to the production of lattice defect and then the displacing of atoms from their equilibrium position. The displaced
ions occupy the lattice vacancies and hence reduced the diffusion
of oxygen ions.
The activation energy is calculated using the following relation

D D0 eE=kB T
where

D0

r0 kB T
Ne2

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M.L. Mane et al. / Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research B 269 (2011) 20262031

-5

4000

Unirradiated
1 Mrad
2 Mrad
3 Mrad

Dielectric Constant (')

-7

-1

Log D (m .sec )

-6

-8

-9

2000

1000

Unirradiated
1 Mrad
2 Mrad
3 Mrad

-10

3000

-11

1
1.0

1.2

1.4

1.6

1.8

2.0

log f

2.2

-1

1000/T (K )
Fig. 7. Variation of diffusion coefcient with temperature for irradiated and
unirradiated Li0.5Fe2.5O4.

is the pre-exponential factor and E is the activation energy for the

diffusion process. The values of activation energies are given in
Table 1. Values of activation energy are decreases with increasing
gamma irradiation dose which means that the diffusion process of
oxygen increased after irradiation. The oxygen ions diffuse through
the structural vacancies or thermal equilibrium vacancies. When
thermal equilibrium vacancies are involved in diffusion the activation energy is equal to the sum of oxygen atoms migration energy
Em and the vacancy formation energy Ef, E = Em + Ef. The decrease
in activation energy may also be attributed to the increase of the
trapping centers by increasing the dose. The electrons in these traps
will be generated and help in conduction process leading to decrease in the activation energy [29].

Fig. 8. Variation of dielectric constant (e0 ) with frequency for irradiated and
unirradiated Li0.5Fe2.5O4.

ions to B sites. The electron exchange interactions Fe3+ M Fe2+ result in a local displacement of electrons in the direction of the electric eld which determine the polarization of the ferrites. The
increase in dielectric constant, which is accompanied by slight decrease in activation energy, with increasing gamma irradiation and
can be attributed to the increase in Fe2+ ions. This leads to increase
in the Fe2+/Fe3+ ratio present in Li0.5Fe2.5O4 and in turn increases
the rate of electron exchange between Fe2+ and Fe3+ ions. Further,
the increase in the dielectric constant by gamma-irradiation can be
interpreted as follows:

c Fe2 $ Fe3 e
This reversible interaction leads to the formation of some Fe2+
ions and at the same time causes an increase in Fe2+/Fe3+ ratios.

3.6. Dielectric constant

3.7. Infrared spectroscopy

Using the values of capacitance Cp and pellet dimensions the

dielectric constant was calculated by using the formula [30]:

The infrared spectra (IR) of the investigated samples recorded in

the range of 400800 cm1 are shown in Fig. 9. IR spectrum of pure
Li-ferrite indicates the presence of three main absorption bands.
The rst primary band m1 at 636 cm1 is due to the vibrations of
FeO (Fe3+) bond in the tetrahedral sites. It shows a splitting of
two secondary bands m01 and m001 at 700 cm1, 740 cm1 respectively.
The second primary band m2 at 500 cm1 is due to the vibrations of
FeO (Fe3+) bond in the octahedral sites. It is splitted to another
peak m02 at 415 cm1 and m002 at 450 cm1. The splitting of the primary bands is attributed to the presence of the Fe2+ ions in the
octahedral sites, which causes JahnTeller distortion. This distortion produces deformation in the crystal eld and hence produces
the splitting of the absorption bands [34]. The third band m3 at
580 cm1 can be attributed to LiO vibrations [35]. When the band
positions are considered for irradiated samples it is observed that a
small but denite change has occurred in the IR bands. The m1 band
and its split components m01 and m001 decreases continuously with
increasing gamma doses. At the same time the band m2 found to increase with increasing gamma doses. No signicant variation could
be observed in the m3 band positions. It is also observed that the
intensity of some absorption bands is reduced after irradiation.
This observed variation in band positions can be related with the
redistribution of ions with higher doses of gamma irradiation. It
may also be due to that the gamma-rays shift some ions of small
size to interstitial positions in the crystal lattice causing the reduction of intensity of some absorbed bands after gamma irradiation.

e0

Cp  d
e0  A

where Cp is the capacitance of parallel plate, d is the thickness of

pellet, A is the cross-sectional area of the at surface of the pellet
and eo is the permittivity of free space.
The variation of dielectric constant (e0 ) with logarithm of
applied electric eld frequency is shown in Fig. 8, it can be seen
that the dielectric constant (e0 ) initially decreases rapidly with
increase in frequency up to the certain frequency; however, it remains fairly constant for higher frequencies. The dielectric properties for the present samples can be explained on the basis of the
mechanism of polarization process in ferrite, which is similar to
that of conduction process. The electronic exchange Fe3+ M Fe2+
give the local displacement of electrons in the direction of an applied eld, which induces polarization in ferrites. The variation of
dielectric constant (e0 ) as a function of frequency for unirradiated
samples reveals the dispersion due to MaxwellWagner [31,32]
interfacial polarization in agreement with Koops phenomenological theory [33].
It is observed from Fig. 8 that the dielectric constant (e0 ) for irradiated samples is increased from that of the unirradiated samples.
The increase of dielectric constant of the samples after irradiation
is attributed to the displacement of Fe3+ ions from A sites as Fe2+

M.L. Mane et al. / Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research B 269 (2011) 20262031

der. Diffusion of oxygen vacancies through the studied samples increases after irradiation. These results suggest the oxygen diffusion
in ferrite under consideration occurs by means of structural vacancies with gamma irradiation. The increase in dielectric constant,
which is accompanied by slight decrease in activation energy, with
increasing gamma irradiation and can be attributed to the increase
in Fe2+ ions after irradiation. The IR spectra showed also the defect
which was produced after g-irradiation.

34

Transmission (%)

32
30

(d)

28

(c)

26

2031

References

(b)

2"

24

(a)
22

1"

1'

3
2

20
800

700

600

500

2'
400

-1

Wavenumber (cm )
Fig. 9. The infrared absorption spectra for (a) unirradiated, (b) 1 Mrad, (c) 2 Mrad
and (d) 3 Mrad c-dose irradiated Li0.5Fe2.5O4.

Further, some ferric ions exposed to gamma irradiation changed to

ferrous ions. These ferrous ions have larger size than Fe3+ ions leading to the shift of some of the absorbed bands. This conrmed the
useful properties of this composition in detecting nuclear
pollution.
4. Conclusions
The physical properties of Li-ferrite can be tailor made by gamma ray irradiation for different applications. The particle size,
structure, cation distribution, morphology and magnetic property,
of gamma irradiated Li0.5Fe2.5O4 spinel ferrite prepared by conventional double sintering ceramic technique has been carefully examined by XRD, SEM, hysteresis loop technique and by electrical
properties. The lattice parameter increases with increase in gamma
irradiation dose rate. By comparing the theoretical value of lattice
parameter and the experimental value, we could conclude that the
estimated cation distribution for before and after irradiation is correct. Li1+ ions are migrated to A-site from B-site with increasing
irradiation dose rate which also increases the mean ionic radii of
tetrahedral A-site (rA). Crystallite size increases because of the formation of Fe2+ due to irradiation. The number of ferrous ions on the
octahedral sites plays a dominant role in the increase of the crystallite size due to irradiation damage by c-rays. Scanning electron
microscope (SEM) studies indicate that the gamma irradiation
causes amorphization, especially at the grain boundaries. The observed increase in the saturation magnetic moment after irradiation is attributed to the partial formation of ferrimagnetic centers
and rearrangement of cations in the lattice and ion-induced disor-

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