Magnetoelastic properties of Nd6Fe13Cu intermetallic compound

Magnetoelastic properties of Nd6Fe13Cu intermetallic compound are reported. To study the magnetoelastic behaviour of this compound, the thermal expansion as well as the longitudinal (λl) and transverse (λt) magnetostriction were measured by using the strain gauge method in the selected temperature range of 80–500 K under applied magnetic fields up to 1.5 T. An anomaly and invar-type effects are observed in the linear thermal expansion and α(T) curves at the Néel temperature. The linear spontaneous magnetostriction decreases sharply by approaching the Néel temperature and also shows the short-range magnetic ordering effects when antiferromagnetic–paramagnetic transition occurs. In the low field region, the absolute values of the anisotropic magnetostriction are small and then start to increase with applied magnetic field. Each isofield curve of the anisotropic magnetostriction passes through a minimum and then approaches to zero with increasing temperature. This magnetostriction compensation arises from the difference in the magnetoelastic coupling constants of the sublattices in this compound.