Magnetocaloric, magnetostrictive and 57Fe Mössbauer studies of the multicomponent (Er,Y,Sm)Fe2 compounds

The effect of substitutional 4f-elements on the magnetism of rare-earth compounds RFe2-type with the Laves phase structure is studied to find new multifunctional materials, as well as to define the macro- and microscopic parameters of multicomponent magnets. The crystal structure of (Er,Y,Sm)Fe2 compounds is investigated by X-ray powder diffraction. Detailed information on the magnetic properties of the iron sublattice for multicomponent compounds with three different rare-earth elements is obtained for the first time by means of the 57Fe Mössbauer spectroscopy. The main regularities in the magnitude variation of magnetocaloric effect and magnetostriction (linear, anisotropic and volume) in varying composition of the (Er,Y,Sm)Fe2 compounds are determined.