Structural, electronic and magnetic properties of Fe2-based full Heusler alloys: A first principle study

Using the first-principles density functional calculations, the structural, electronic and magnetic properties of the Fe2XAl (X=Cr, Mn, Ni) compounds in both the Hg2CuTi and Cu2MnAl-type structures were studied by the full-potential linearized augmented plane waves (FP-LAPW) method. The exchange and correlation potential is treated by the generalized-gradient approximation (GGA) where the results show that the Cu2MnAl-type structure is energetically more stable than the Hg2CuTi-type structure for the Fe2CrAl and Fe2MnAl compounds at the equilibrium volume. The full Heusler compounds Fe2XAl (X=Cr, Mn) are half-metallic in the Cu2MnAl-type structure. Fe2NiAl has a metallic character in both CuHg2Ti and AlCu2Mn-type structures. The total magnetic moments of the Fe2CrAl and Fe2MnAl compounds are 1.0 and 2.0 μB, respectively, which are in agreement with the Slater-Pauling rule Mtot=Ztot− 24.