Effects of inter-site chemical disorder on the magnetic properties of MnBi

Abstract

Stoichiometric and ordered hexagonal phase of MnBi are difficult to obtain due to the peritectic reaction of the materials constituents. Thus, inter-site mixing of Mn and Bi is expected. Given that the material is a promising rare-earth free permanent magnet, we study the effects of inter-site chemical disorder on its magnetic properties, using ab initio density functional based electronic structure methods. Our calculations, focusing on inter-site substitutional disorder, show that excess of Mn and Bi ions in MnBi have detrimental effects on its magnetic properties. We find that inter-site chemical disorder not only decreases the total magnetization, but also reduces the materials׳ ferromagnetic transition temperature. The latter is deduced from the calculated magnetic pair-exchange parameters by means of linear response technique. Our calculations suggest that the inter-site disorder of Mn and Bi ions in MnBi must be minimized for its optimum performance in permanent magnet applications.