The oxidation at low temperature of fine-grained ferrites containing oxidizable cations such as Cu⁺, Fe²⁺, Mn²⁺, Mo³⁺, V³⁺, has led to new mixed-valent cation deficient ferrites with a large number of vacancies. It has been demonstrated by DTG analysis that each cation oxidizes at a specific temperature in close relation with the cation-oxygen distance. The kinetics oxidation of each oxidizable cation has been explained on the basis of a diffusion-induced stress effect when these stresses are generated by the chemical gradient induced during the oxidation process. When fine-grained ferrites contain some Co-cations, it has been revealed that the stresses have a significant influence on the enhancement of the coercivity.