Magnetic Properties of Zr_(9)Ni_(11)Intermetallic Compound

Published

February 7, 2010

Author(s)

Virgil Provenzano, Robert D. Shull, Richard M. Waterstrat, Lawrence H. Bennett, Edward Della Torre, H. Seyoum

Abstract

We report on a very interesting magnetic behavior in the intermetallic compound Zr_(9)Ni_(11), namely, (i) spin-glass behavior and (ii) fluctuations in magnetization versus temperature curves.  The magnetic properties are consistent with structural results obtained by neutron diffraction and by scanning and transmission electron microscopies.  The fluctuations are believed to arise from the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interactions occurring in the Zr_(9)Ni_(11) compound. Between 7.86 kA/m and 31.85 kA/m, the temperature (Tp) of a magnetization peak in the zero-field cooled (M_{ZFC}) versus temperature curve shifted to lower temperatures with increasing measuring field. Tp is found to be proportional to Hb, where H is the applied field and the exponent b<1. The value of b is found to be 0.61, which is close to the de Almeida-Thouless ⅔ power law that applies to spin glasses.  Neutron diffraction data showed that the Zr_{9}Ni_{11} alloy possessed Zr_{9}Pt_{11}-type tetragonal structure with additional columnar atomic chains of alternating Zr and Ni atoms lying along the c-axis. Small fluctuations present in the M_{FC} vs. T plot of 31.85 kA/m are believed to be the result of movements of the atoms along the chains over short distances [1].  In another peculiarity, the M_{ZFC} values reside mostly above those of the corresponding M_{FC} values.

Citation

IEEE Transactions on Magnetics

Pub Type

Journals

Download Paper

Local Download

Keywords

Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interactions, neutron diffraction, spin glass, ZFC and FC plots

Citation

Provenzano, V. , Shull, R. , Waterstrat, R. , Bennett, L. , Della, E. and Seyoum, H. (2010), Magnetic Properties of Zr_(9)Ni_(11)Intermetallic Compound, IEEE Transactions on Magnetics, [online], https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=853616 (Accessed October 9, 2025)