Electrical resistivity and Mossbauer effect studies of Y(Fe1-xCox)2 intermetallics

Synthesis, X-ray analysis (300 K), electrical resistivity and Mossbauer effect studies in the intermetallic compounds Y(Fe1-xCox)(2) are reported. Cubic Laves phases MgCu2-type, were observed across the series. Crystal lattice parameter is considerably reduced with Co concentration. The lattice parameters of the Y(Fe1-xCox)(2) series are compared to analogous data previously observed for the Gd(Fe1-xCox)(2) and Dy(Fe1-xCox)(2) series. Electrical resistivity for the Y(Fe1-xCox)(2) intermetallic series was measured in the temperature range 15-1000 K. Parameters characterizing the resistivity dependence on temperature including Debye temperature were determined. Residual, phonon and magnetic resistivity were separated from the measured electrical resistivity. Curie temperatures of the Y(Fe1-xCox)(2) series were determined using both electrical resistivity and Mossbauer effect measurements. The Curie temperature increases with x, reaches maximum approximately at x = 0.3 and than strongly decreases as a result of Fe/Co substitution. The obtained Curie temperatures for the Y(Fe1-xCox)(2) series are related to the data known for the Dy(Fe1-xCox)(2), Gd(Fe1-xCox)(2) and other series. Numerical formula, which approximates Curie temperatures of intermetallics is proposed. (C) 2011 Elsevier B. V. All rights reserved.