The magnetic moment of Ni in the Laves phase compound GdNi2

Magnetization and inverse susceptibility of the Laves phase compound GdNi2 were investigated and analyzed in detail by employing molecular-field analysis. Both the temperature dependence of the magnetization and the Curie-Weiss (C-W) law-like linear relationship of inverse susceptibility are reproduced in terms of a two-sublattice model and it is seen that the magnetic structure of GdNi2 is ferrimagnetic and Ni in GdNi2 retains a magnetic moment of about 0.24μB.