Several different mixture equations have previously been used to characteri
ze the microwave properties of the ferrite particle-insulating medium mixtu
res. For very low particle concentrations, these equations give nearly the
same results. But when the particle concentration is higher than a few per
cent, these equations generally give different results. Based on microwave
measurements and numerical calculations, the validity of five well-known mi
xture equations has been examined in this paper. The experimental results s
how that both the Bruggeman and QCA-CP ('quasi-crystalline approximation wi
th coherent potential') equations can accurately describe the microwave pro
perties of the ferrite-medium mixtures, and that the Lichtenecker, Logarith
m and Maxwell-Garnett equations are not suitable for characterizing the fer
rite-medium mixtures over a wide particle concentration range at microwave
frequencies. The microwave intrinsic permeability and permittivity spectra
of some BaZn2-xCoxFe16O27, Ba4Zn2-xCoxFe36O60 and Ba2Zn2-xCoxFe12O22 ferrit
e particles have been presented, which were calculated from the measurement
data of the ferrite-wax mixtures using the Bruggeman equation. The microwa
ve properties of these ferrite particles have also been discussed. In the 1
-6 GHz range, both the real and imaginary parts of permeability of BaZn2-xC
oxFe16O27 and Ba4Zn2-xCoxFe36O60 ferrite particles evidently increase with
the increasing Co concentration. Both the real and imaginary parts of permi
ttivity of Ba2Zn2-xCoxFe12O22 ferrite particles apparently decrease as the
Co concentration increases.