Magnetic susceptibility of glass-forming Al-Co-Ce alloys at high temperatures

Abstract

In this work magnetic susceptibility of Al91-xCo9Cex (1<x<11 at.%) and Al91-xCoxCe7 (1<x<11 at.%) alloys was investigated by Faraday's method in the wide temperature (T=300-2000 K) and field (B=0.6-1.2 T) ranges. The abnormal behavior of susceptibility above melting point of Al2R compound is discovered. The magnetic susceptibility vs concentration curves for quasybinary systems Al-Ce (X-Co = 9 at.%) and Al-Co (X-Ce = 7 at.%) were plotted. It was found that chi=f(Ce) dependences have oscillating form similar both in solid and liquid states; while for chi=f(Co) susceptibility practically does not depend on Co content. Some parameters of electron structure in Al-Co-Ce alloys are calculated from experimental results. The effective magnetic moment per cerium atom was found to be at a level of 1.1 mu(B) and does not depend on alloy composition, while cobalt atoms exist in non-magnetic state in these alloys. The existence of Al2R quasimoleculars is highly probable in these alloys and their destruction starts only near melting point of Al2R compound.