Abstract
Magnetostriction measurements of some RAl 2 (R = Pr, Nd and Sm) compounds were carried out from 4.2 K up to above their magnetic ordering temperature ( T c) and in applied field up to 2.1 T. PrAl 2 exhibited a huge magnetostriction (≈10 −3) and well-defined saturation below 30 K and at about 0.8 T. For SmAl 2 no saturation was observed up to the highest available applied field. This implies that the material is highly anistropic. The strain for NdAl 2 exhibited a change is sign at higher fields. Variation of strain with temperature for PrAl 2 is found to be in good agreement with the single-ion magnetoelastic theory. Large volume strains are observed for the compounds studied. These strains are attributed to a volume dependence of the crystal field interaction.
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