Magnetic Studies of Ni3Al(Fe) Compounds

Abstract

ABSTRACTSeveral samples of the ordered intermetallic compound with the Ll2 structure and chemical composition NiO.75-xAl0.25-xFe2x (doped with 0.2 at. % B) have been studied over an Fe compositional range 0 ≤ 2x ≤ 0.20. Stoichiometric Ni3Al is known to be a strongly exchange-enhanced-material, forming a giant moment system when Fe impurities are introduced in trace amounts. For the greater Fe concentrations employed in this work, more conventional ferromagnetic systems are obtained. Well below the ferromagnetic Curie temperature Tc the samples exhibit a spontaneous moment in small magnetic fields and at higher fields the isothermal magnetization data show a clear tendency toward saturation. Magnetic investigations using vibrating-sample techniques permitted measurements over the temperature interval from 4.2 K to 800 K in fields up to 5.0 T. The Curie temperature was found to increase from ∼50 K for the Fe-free sample in the series to 410 K for the limiting concentration of 12 at. % Fe in the Ll2 structure. Samples with higher Fe content up to 20 at. % contain a second, disordered fcc phase with Tc ≃ 715 K. Peaks in the temperature dependence of the lattice parameter observed in x-ray studies yield Tc values in reasonable agreement with the magnetic measurements.