Neutron-Diffraction Investigation of Chromium with Small Additions of Manganese and Vanadium

Abstract

The magnetic properties of chromium alloys with small amounts of manganese (0.5%, 0.74%, 2.1%) and vanadium (1.0%, 1.9%) have been investigated by neutron diffraction, and these results and others involving higher manganese concentrations are compared with theoretical calculations by Tachiki and Nagamiya. The addition of vanadium tends first (1.0%) to destroy the long-range modulation of the moment configuration and then rapidly to eliminate the magnetic moment of the system. The addition of manganese progressively modifies the temperature-dependent properties of the modulated-moment structure of pure chromium and the temperature of the spin-flip transition. Over a small composition range both the simple antiferromagnetic and the modulated-moment structures appear to be stable. Above 2.1% manganese only the simple antiferromagnetic structure is observed. The changes in the magnetic properties of the alloys have a qualitative relation to the theoretical calculations.