Structural and magnetic properties of Tb{sub}0.27Dy{sub}0.73Fe{sub}(2-x)Nb{sub}x (x=0, 0.05, 0.1 and 0.2)

摘要

The C15 cubic Laves phase RFe{sub}2 (R=rare earth) compounds exhibit giant magnetostriction at room temperature, that make these materials suitable as active elements in electromechanical transducers [1]. The anisotropy compensated compounds viz., Tb{sub}0.27Dy{sub}0.73Fe{sub}2 has been identified for several applications and transducers have been fabricated employing active elements of these materials. While the easy magnetization direction is along the <111> direction, the grain growth in a directionally solidified rod is along the <112> direction [2]. Thus, it is of interest to explore the possibilities of modifying the anisotropy of these compounds so as to have the grains grow along <111>. Substitution of magnetic and non magnetic elements such as Co, Ni, Mn, Ti, B, Al etc. at the Fe site have not yielded the desired results [3, 4, 5]. In this paper, the effect of substituting Fe partially by the 4d element Nb on the structural and magnetic properties of Tb{sub}0.27Dy{sub}0.73Fe{sub}2 is reported.