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arXiv · cond-mat/0703489

Size effects in the magnetic behaviour of TbAl_2 milled alloys

Abstract

The study of the magnetic properties depending upon mechanical milling of the ferromagnetic polycrystalline TbAl_2 material is reported. The Rietveld analysis of the X-ray diffraction data reveals a decrease of the grain size down to 14 nm and -0.15 % of variation of the lattice parameter, after 300 hours of milling time. Irreversibility in the zero field cooled - field cooled (ZFC-FC) DC-susceptibility and clear peaks in the AC susceptibility between 5 and 300 K show that the long-range ferromagnetic structure is inhibited in favour of a disordered spin arrangement below 45 K. This glassy behaviour is also deduced from the variation of the irreversibility transition with the field (H^{2/3}) and frequency. The magnetization process of the bulk TbAl_2 is governed by domain wall thermal activation processes. By contrast, in the milled samples, cluster-glass properties arise as a result of cooperative interactions due to the substitutional disorder. The interactions are also influenced by the nanograin structure of the milled alloys, showing a variation of coercivity with the grain size, below the crossover between the multi- and single-domain behaviours.

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D. P. Rojas, L. Fernandez Barquin, J. Rodriguez Fernandez, J. I. Espeso, J. C. Gomez Sal. 2007-03-19. Size effects in the magnetic behaviour of TbAl_2 milled alloys. https://doi.org/10.1088/0953-8984%2F19%2F18%2F186214

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