Magnetic and magnetostrictive properties in high-pressure synthesized Dy1−xPrxFe1.9(0 ≤ x ≤ 1) cubic Laves alloys

Polycrystalline alloys Dy1−xPrxFe1.9 (0 ≤ x ≤ 1) were synthesized by arc-melting and subsequent high-pressure annealing. Their crystal structure, magnetic properties and magnetostriction have been investigated. X-ray diffraction results show that the system exhibits almost single cubic Laves phase with MgCu2-type structure over the whole range. The lattice parameter of the cubic Laves phase increases linearly with increasing Pr concentration, while the Curie temperature goes the opposite way. The saturation magnetization for Dy1−xPrxFe1.9 decreases with the increase of x and reaches a minimum at x = 0.4, then it continues to increase with further increase of x, which reflects the antiparallel magnetic moment of Dy and Pr. The magnetostriction λ|| − λ⊥ first increases and then decreases within the range of 0.0 ≤ x ≤ 0.4, and increases monotonically with further increasing x.

Research highlightsMuch attention has been paid to improve the Pr-concentration in Dy1−xPrxFe2 alloy system in the past several years. However, the cubic Laves phase cannot be synthesized by a traditional high-temperature annealing method when the Pr concentration exceeds 40 at.% in rare earth sublattice. In the present work, Dy1−xPrxFe1.9 (0 ≤ x ≤ 1) cubic Laves alloys have been successfully synthesized by a method of arc-melting and subsequent high-pressure annealing. The crystal structure, magnetic properties and the magnetostriction of the alloys are investigated in detail.