Abstract:
The combined effects of double substitution of Nb and Al for Fe on the crystallographic structure and magnetic properties of Nd
2Fe
17-x-yNb
xAl
y compounds were investigated by means of X-ray diffraction, neutron diffraction and magnetic measurement. The Rietveld refinements of the diffraction data indicate that all the samples crystallize in the rhombohedral Th
2Zn
17-type structure with small impurities. The unit cell volumes of Nd
2Fe
17-x-yNb
xAl
y are all found to increase linearly with the increase of Al content and the unit cell volume of Nd
2Fe
16.5-yNb
0.5Al
y is larger than that of Nd
2Fe
17-yAl
y. The neutron diffraction indicates that Nb prefers to occupy 6
c sites while Al prefers to occupy 18
h sites. The Curie temperature of Nd
2Fe
17-yAl
y first increases and then decreases with the increase of Al content, while the Curie temperature of doubly substituted Nd
2Fe
16.5-yNb
0.5Al
y increase linearly with 0.0≤
y≤3.0, and it indicates the synergetic effect on the magnetic property.