THE FORMATION AND MAGNETIC-PROPERTIES OF DY2FE17CX WITH HIGH-CARBON CONTENT OBTAINED BY RAPID SOLIDIFICATION

The carbides Dy2Fe17Cx with x = 1.5-3.0 have been successfully prepared by the melt-spinning method. The x-ray diffraction patterns and the thermomagnetic curves show that they are of single phase in general with Th2Zn17 structure type when x = 1.5, 2.0, 2.5 and 2.8 with a small amount of alpha-Fe as an impurity phase, while for x = 3.0 the proportion of the alpha-Fe phase is high. The lattice parameters a and c are both enlarged and increase with the carbon content x. The Curie temperatures T(c) are greatly enhanced when x < 2.5 and remain almost constant when x = 2.5-3.0, but the saturation magnetizations, sigma(s), increase slightly. The Dy2Fe17Cx ribbons still maintain the rhombohedral Th2Zn17-type Structure after being annealed at 1100-degrees-C for 14 h, which indicates the high stability of Dy2Fe17Cx (x = 1.5-3.0) compounds obtained by rapid solidification. The heat-treated ribbon samples can be magnetically oriented and prefer an easy-plane anisotropy at room temperature.