Multiferroic systems are attractive to the researches worldwide due to
diversity of existing applications, as well as possible novel ones. In order
to contribute to understanding of the processes that take place within the
structure of such a system, we subjected it to mechanochemical activation
and thermal treatment. Powdery mixtures of iron and barium titanate in a
mass ratio of 30% Fe and 70% BaTiO3 were activated in a planetary ball mill
for time duration of 30 to 300 min and subsequently sintered at 1200?C in
the atmosphere of air. During the activation the system undergoes structural
phase transitions, whereby the content of iron and its oxides changes. The
highest Fe content was observed in the sample activated for 270 min, with
local maxima in crystallite size and microstrain values and a minimum in
dislocation density. The complex dielectric permittivity changes in the
applied radio frequency field, rangingfrom 176.9 pF/m in thesample activated
for 90 min to 918.1 pF/m in the sample activated for 180 min. As the
frequency of the field increases, an exponential decrease in the magnetic
with a simultaneous increase in the electrical energy losses is noticeable.
The system exhibits ferromagnetic resonance, whereby longer activation in
the mill shifts the resonant frequency to higher values. Negative electrical
resistance was observed in all analyzed samples. The activation time changes
both the demagnetization temperature and the Curie temperature of the
samples undergoing heating and cooling cycles in the external permanent
magnetic field. Curie temperature is the highest in the sample activated for
240 min. Thermal treatment increases the initial magnetization of all
samples, with the most pronounced increase of ~95% in the sample activated
for 300 min. [Project of the Serbian Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development, Grant no. OI 172057]