Abstract
Properties of materials greatly differ in nanoparticle form compared to their bulk counterpart. Strain mechanism, elastic properties and cation distribution play a major role as particle size decreased to nanoscale level and therefore it is necessary to evaluate these properties precisely through reliable methodology. In the present work, a detailed investigation has been carried out on nanocrystalline particles of Mg–Mn co-substituted CdFe2O4 to estimate intrinsic strain through Williamson-Hall (W–H) analysis. The results were compared with those obtained from Scherrer equation and Rietveld refinement. Bertuat method was used to estimate the cation distribution of spinel ferrite. Elastic properties such as, stiffness constant, Young's modulus, bulk modulus, rigidity modulus, Poisson's ratio and Debye temperature were studied by using the band positions of tetrahedral – A and octahedral – B sites observed through infrared spectra. The obtained results were discussed in the light of strain mechanism, elastic constants and substitution of Mg–Mn ions in the CdFe2O4.