Temperature dependence of the coercivity in Nd 60Fe 30− xCo xAl 10, x=0 or 10, and Pr 58Fe 24Al 18 bulk amorphous ferromagnets

Abstract

Bulk amorphous ferromagnet alloys of composition Nd 60Fe 30Al 10, Nd 60Fe 20Co 10Al 10 and Pr 58Fe 24Al 18 have been prepared by argon arc melting and quenching into a copper mould. General insight into the magnetic behaviour of the alloys was gained from measurement of the major hysteresis loop at room temperature, and from zero-field cooled and field-cooled magnetisation measurements in the range 10–400 K. Measurements of the coercivity were made from 10 to 400 K, and for all alloys, the coercivity is seen to increase steeply with decreasing temperature to a peak at a temperature in the range 25–50 K, before decreasing. For all alloys, the temperature dependence of the coercivity between 50 and 400 K is well explained by the strong pinning model of domain walls of Gaunt [Philos. Mag. B 48 (1983) 261]. Quantities deduced from the Gaunt model, along with other relevant magnetic parameters, are used to estimate values for the exchange and anisotropy constants.