Crystal structure and electrical resistivity studies of Dy(Fe0.4Co0.6−xNix)2 intermetallics

X-ray powder diffraction measurements (295 K) show that the cubic, MgCu2-type, Fd3m crystal structure appears in Dy(Fe0.4Co0.6−xNix)2 compounds. The lattice parameter is considerably and weakly nonlinearly reduced with x. The electrical resistivities of the Dy(Fe0.4Co0.6−xNix)2 intermetallic series were measured over a wide temperature range and the parameters characterising the dependence of resistivity on temperature and composition were determined. In order to separate the residual, phonon and magnetic contributions to total resistivity the Matthiesen formula was used. The magnetic part of the resistivity was used to estimate Curie temperatures. The Curie temperature TC is strongly and nonlinearly reduced as a result of Co/Ni substitution. The obtained TC results are related to data known for the Dy(Mn1−xFex)2 and Dy(Fe1−xCox)2 series.