Evidence of weak ferromagnetism in the C14 Laves phase (Fe1−xCox)2Nb system

In this work are studied the structure and magnetic properties of the (Fe1−xCox)2Nb alloys with X-ray diffraction and magnetization measurements. The results confirm the formation of the C14 Laves phase in the Co concentration range 0≤x≤0.550≤x≤0.55. The unit cell volume decreases with the increase of the cobalt concentration and is larger than in Fe2Nb. Magnetization measurements indicate that this system is weakly ferromagnetic at low temperatures for x≤0.55x≤0.55. From the behavior of the M(T)M(T) curves a cluster-glass-like mechanism is predicted for this system below 50 K.