Synthesis, Crystal Structure, and Magnetic Properties of Al 1.5 Co 3.5 Nd Compound

The Al 1.5 Co 3.5 Nd compound was prepared by means of experimental synthesis, after which the Rietveld refinement of the powder X-ray diffraction pattern (PXRD) was used to determine its crystal structure. The results show that Al 1.5 Co 3.5 Nd crystallizes in the hexagonal cell, space group of P6/mmm (No. 191) with the lattice parameters of a = 5.1041(7) Ǻ and c = 4.0576(3) Ǻ, D calc = 7.09 g/cm 3 , and Z = 1. It is isostructural with the Al 2 NdNi 3 compound (CaCu 5 -type). The temperature-dependent magnetic susceptibility curve of Al 1.5 Co 3.5 Nd was obtained in the temperature range of 2–600 K, which indicates that the Curie temperature ( T c ) and paramagnetic Curie temperature ( T p ) are 516 K and 522 K, respectively. The effective magnetic moment μ eff is estimated to be 0.53 μ B . Under the applied magnetic field of up to 8 T, the saturation magnetic moment and magnetic hysteresis loop of Al 1.5 Co 3.5 Nd compound were measured at different temperatures in the temperature range of 2–300 K. The results show that the saturation magnetic moment M S is 0.082 µ B /f.u., the remnant magnetization M r is 0.035 µ B /f.u., the coercivity H c is 1.59 T at 2 K, and the compound is a magnetic material within the temperature range of measurement.