The bonding character and magnetic properties of Fe3Al: Comparison between disordered and ordered alloy

Fe3Al with D03-ordered structure is one of the few structural intermetallics that can be disordered using non-equilibrium processing techniques. The bonding and magnetic character of the stoichiometric Fe3Al, with D03-ordered or disordered structure, have been studied using the empirical electron theory of solid and molecular (EET). It was found that the magnetic property is basically dictated by the chemical bonding. There is a change of the character of the interatomic bonds from 3d(Fe)-3p(Al) for the D03-ordered Fe3Al to 4sp(Fe)-3p(Al) for the disordered Fe3Al. For the latter, while the Fe 3d electrons participating in bonding is reduced, the mean magnetic moment is increased.