Magnetic Moments of Alloys of Gadolinium with Some of the Transition Elements

Abstract

Alloys of gadolinium with some of the transition elements were prepared and examined by x-ray and magnetic techniques in an effort to determine their structure, Curie temperatures and magnetic moments. Values obtained for the saturation magnetization for some compositions in the gadolinium-cobalt system were higher than those reported by Nesbitt et al., but the data agree qualitatively with their theory of an antiferromagnetic interaction. An increase in saturation magnetization at room temperature and below was noted for some compositions that were cooled from their Curie points in a magnetic field. An extremely high intrinsic coercive force ${(}_I{H}_c\text{\hspace{0.17em}=\hspace{0.17em}8000)}$ was measured on the powdered hexagonal compound ${\mathrm{GdCo}}_5$ indicating a high anisotropy for this structure. The lattice parameters for a face centered cubic and two hexagonal phases in this system were calculated from the x-ray data. The structure of the gadolinium-manganese system was found to be extremely complex, and only the compound ${\mathrm{GdMn}}_2$ was identified. Magnetic moment vs temperature values were also determined for various compositions. The Curie temperature for the composition ${\mathrm{Gd}}_{\text{0.2}}{\mathrm{Mn}}_{\text{0.8}}$ was found to be approximately 250°C.