Magnetic analysis of commercial hematite, magnetite, and their mixtures

Magnetic techniques are suitable to detect iron oxides even in trace concentrations. However, since several iron oxides may be simultaneously present in natural and synthetic samples, mixtures of magnetic particles and magnetic interactions between grains can complicate magnetic signatures. Among the iron oxide minerals, hematite (alpha-Fe2O3) and magnetite (Fe3O4) are the most common. In this work, different commercial hematite powders, normally used as Fe precursor in laboratory synthesis of Fe-containing oxides, were characterized using X-ray diffractometry (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and vibrating sample magnetometry (VSM). The effects of different concentrations of the hematite and magnetite on the magnetic properties of a set of mixtures (from 1 to 10 wt% magnetite) were then investigated by measuring the hysteresis loops, first order reversal curves (FORCs), thermal demagnetization, and isothermal remanent magnetization (IRM) curves. The three commercial hematite powders presented different magnetic behaviors mostly due to the effects of particle size. The magnetic results of mixtures reveal that it is very difficult to identify hematite magnetic signals by means of hysteresis loops, FORCs, or thermal demagnetization when even a small amount of magnetite (> 5 wt%) is present due to magnetite's high specific magnetization. However, IRM was found to be a sensitive method to determine the presence of hematite when magnetite is simultaneously present as high as 10 wt%. (C) 2017 Author(s).