Phase relations of the Ce2Co17–Sm2Co17 pseudo-binary system

Abstract

Abstract The phase relations in the Ce2Co17-Sm2Co17 system over the whole concentration range have been studied by means of Xray powder diffraction, differential thermal analysis and scanning electron microscopy equipped with energy dispersive Xray spectroscopy. The X-ray powder diffraction results reveal that all the alloys (Ce1-xSmx)2Co17 are similar to the end member of the investigated system, Sm2Co17. It is implied that continuous solid solutions are formed in this system. The lattice parameters and unit cell volumes of (Ce1-xSmx)2Co17 solid solutions increase linearly with x increasing from 0 to 1.0. The occurrence of the polymorphic transformation reaction α-(Ce, Sm)2Co17 = β-(Ce, Sm)2Co17 is confirmed in the Ce2Co17-Sm2Co17 system, but its transition temperature cannot be determined. The differential thermal analysis measurements show that both the decomposition temperature and the Curie temperature of the (Ce1-xSmx)2Co17 alloys increase gradually with increasing Sm content. Based on the X-ray powder diffraction results and differential thermal analysis data, the tentative vertical section of Ce2Co17-Sm2Co17 pseudobinary system has been constructed.