Superparamagnetism of Artificial Glasses Based on Rocks: Experimental Data and Theoretical Modeling

Abstract

Artificial glasses containing nanoscale inclusions of iron oxides, including magnetite and hematite, were obtained via the method of the high-temperature melting of rocks. The main factors influencing the magnetic properties of glasses are the composition of the initial charge and the conditions of cooling of the melt. The data of magnetic granulometry and frequency-field dependencies of magnetic susceptibility showed the presence of a sufficiently large superparamagnetic fraction in the samples. Coordinated theoretical modeling using two independent models that take into consideration possible the chemical inhomogeneity of particles and magnetostatic interaction between them made it possible to calculate hysteresis characteristics corresponding to the experiment and to estimate ferrimagnetic concentrations in the samples, including the superparamagnetic fraction.

Keywords

• artificial glasses
• rocks
• superparamagnetism
• nanoparticles
• magnetometry
• magnetite