BaFe12ON/CaFe2O4/CoFe2O4 hard/soft nanocomposite powders were successfully prepared by mixing the individual ferrite components with different mass ratios and subsequently heating at an appropriate temperature. The single-phase-like hysteresis loops are observed showing the existence of the exchange coupling phenomenon in the hard/soft ferrite nanocomposite powders and there are obvious enhancements of 15% in (BH)(max) value and 19.3% in remanence value compared with BaFe12O19/CaFe2O4 ferrite. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.