Structural and magnetic ordering properties of TbFexMn12-x (x = 6.0–9.0) intermetallic compounds

• Published in: Journal of magnetism and magnetic materials 2023-01, Vol.565, p.170301, Article 170301
• Main Authors: Wang, Fanggui, Xia, Yuanhua, Yang, Shuai, Yun, Chao, Luo, Zhaochu, Liu, Shunquan, Han, Jingzhi, Du, Honglin, Xu, Qing, Zhu, Chenyao, Wang, Changsheng, Yang, Wenyun, Yang, Jinbo
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: AC susceptibility; Ferrimagnetic coupling; Magnetic ordering; Negative magnetization; Rare earth-transition metal interaction
• ISSN: 0304-8853
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jmmm.2022.170301

•In this study, rare-earth sublattice with a large magnetic moment was constructed by Tb element, and (Fe, Mn) sublattice with different Fe to Mn ratios was constructed to obtain net magnetic moment in the TM sublattice and at the same time control the Tb-TM coupling strength.•The Fe can substantially alter the magnetic interactions between the Tb and (Fe, Mn) sublattices, and as a result, the Tb-(Mn, Fe) interaction and ordering temperature were significantly increased.•Negative magnetization and exchange-bias-like behavior were observed in these homogenous compounds.•By the AC susceptibility measurements it was found that all the samples show spin-glass behavior just below the (Fe, Mn) sublattice ordering temperature. In this work, single-phase TbFexMn12-x compounds with the optimized composition (x = 6.0–9.0) were prepared, and their structural and magnetic ordering properties were investigated. It was found that the Tb-(Mn, Fe) coupling strength was significantly enhanced by the introduction of Fe, which finally significantly increased the magnetic ordering temperature of the R sublattice and induced interesting magnetic behaviors. When x ≤ 8.0, negative magnetization was observed in the M-T curves when decreasing the temperature in a constant positive external field. When x = 6.0, the M-T curve seemed the M-T curves of normal ferromagnetic materials because the net magnetization of the (Fe, Mn) magnetic sublattice was too small to induce the Tb magnetization to align in the opposite direction of the external magnetic field. Lateral and longitudinal offsets in the hysteresis loops, namely exchange-bias-like behavior, were observed, and with the increase of the maximum measurement field, the lateral and longitudinal offsets become smaller. The estimated minimum magnetic field required to cancel the offset was 110 kOe. In addition, AC susceptibility measurement results showed that all samples had the characteristics of spin-glass state at temperature just below the (Fe, Mn) sublattice ordering temperature due to the fluctuations in exchange interaction and anisotropy caused by the introduction of Fe in the (Fe, Mn) sublattice.