MAGNETIC AND STRUCTURAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE ND2(CO,FE)7B3 SYSTEM

Nd2Co7-xFexB3 alloys have been synthesized and studied at temperatures from 4 to 1100 K at fields up to 90 kOe. The structure and magnetic properties vary significantly with changing Fe content. The main phase is observed to be of hexagonal symmetry for x<3. For x>4 it is multiphase, the major phase having tetragonal symmetry. The T c increases from 330 to 885 K when x varies from 0 to 3, then decreases from 885 to 577 K when x increases from 3 to 7. The saturation magnetization is 8μB/fu at 4.2 K, for Nd2Co 7B3; it increases with increasing Fe content. The alloys exhibit a conical (0<x<3) and an axial (x>4) magnetocrystalline anisotropy at 295 K. They all exhibit conical magnetic anisotropy at 77 K.