Neutron and X-ray diffraction study of Y<inf>2</inf>Co<inf>17-x</inf>Zr<inf>x</inf>and Y<inf>2</inf>Co<inf>17-y</inf>Mn<inf>y</inf>compounds

Abstract

The ternary Y <inf xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</inf> Co <inf xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">17</inf> -based systems in which Co is replaced by Zr and Mn have been studied by neutron diffraction, X-ray diffraction and magnetic measurements to ascertain the effect of the substitution on their crystallographic properties and magnetocrystalline anisotropy. The x-ray diffraction and magnetic measurements showed that in Y <inf xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</inf> Co <inf xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">17</inf> the easy magnetization direction lies in the basal plane, however, in the ternary Y <inf xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</inf> Co <inf xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">17-x</inf> Zr <inf xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">x</inf> and Y <inf xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</inf> Co <inf xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">17-y</inf> Mn <inf xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">y</inf> compounds, a change of the direction of easy magnetization occurs with a small amount of Zr and Mn. From the neutron diffraction results we found that the Zr and Mn atoms prefer to occupy the 6c sites. This is the reason that the easy magnetization direction changes from basal plane to the c-axis.