Structural and magnetic properties of Fe-Cr-Al alloys with DO3-type structure

X-ray, neutron, magnetization and Mossbauer studies in the temperature range 10-300 K are reported for Fe3-xCrxAl system with x < 0.6. The experiments indicate that a single phase having the DO3-type structure is maintained in the range of Cr concentration studied. It was found that Cr atoms occupy preferentially B-sites and the lattice constant decreases with increasing concentration of chromium. The magnetic moment of chromium is small and diminishes the value of neighbouring iron atoms by about 0.1 mu(B) per Cr atom. The magnetic moments of iron at (A, C) and B sites were estimated to be 1.54 (22), 2.58 (22), 1.51 (27) and 2.32 (14) mu(B), for T = 10 and 300 K, respectively. The magnetic moment of iron decreases by 0.37(10) and 0.26(6)mu(B) at 10 K and T = 300 K, respectively, if one aluminium atom is found as a nearest neighbour of iron.