Effect of Al Substitution on the Electronic and Magnetic Properties of GdCo5

Abstract

Experimental data show that aluminium doped RCo 5 systems crystallize in CaCu 5 -type structure for most of the rare-earth elements (R). Al impurities randomly occupy one of the two possible positions (2c and 3g) and thereis a critical concentration of Al, x c = 2.0, for RCo 5 - x Al x when the Co sublattice becomes nonmagnetic. The ab initio self-consistent calculations show strong dependence of magnetic properties of GdCo 5 - x Al x on concentration of Al and position of the impurities in the unit cell, furthermore to fulfil experimental observation of existence of critical concentration, x c = 2.0, the Al impurities should prefer 3g positions otherwise the magnetic moments on Co atoms do not vanish.