LAUSR

In the present study, the investigation of formation mechanism of holmium iron garnet (Ho3Fe5O12, HoIG) prepared by an aqueous sol–gel method was reported. We specifically focused on the identification of species released during the thermal decomposition of the Ho–Fe–O precursor gel using thermal analysis method. The formation of holmium iron garnet phase and some magnetic properties were investigated by X-ray diffraction analysis, Mössbauer spectroscopy and TG–DSC measurements. Evolved gas analysis of the decomposition products of gel precursor was performed by coupled TG–GC–MS method. In addition, the Curie temperatures of series of rare earth iron garnets were measured using thermal analyser with the small permanent magnet. The influence of the transition temperature from ferrimagnetic to paramagnetic state on the nature of lanthanide element in the iron garnets has been also investigated.