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Enhanced magnetic moment and curie temperature due to co-substitution in Heusler alloys Fe2−xCoxMnSi

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Abstract

Magnetic full Heusler alloys are extremely important for spintronics because of their half-metallicity. Since they can be synthesized without any rare-earth elements, they are interesting for applications based on their magnetic behavior also. Hence solid solutions of the two Heusler alloys Fe2MnSi and Co2MnSi, Fe2−xCoxMnSi with 0 ≤ x ≤ 0.4 have been synthesized so that their magnetic moment as well as Curie temperature can be tuned. The structural characterization using a combination of X-ray diffraction and Rietveld refinement of the structure shows that all the alloys are single phase with a cubic Fm\(\overline {3}\)m structure. The lattice parameter does not change with Co-substitution in all the alloys. The magnetization studies as a function of temperature clearly shows a paramagnetic to ferromagnetic transition in all the alloys with the Curie temperature increasing from 220 K for x = 0 to ̴ 580 K for x = 0.4. It is found that the re-entrant antiferromagnetic transition observed in x = 0 alloy at 62 K can be suppressed either with a substitution of Co for Fe or by increasing the external magnetic field. The isothermal magnetization shows an extremely soft behavior with low remanence in all the alloys. The saturation magnetic moment is found to increase from 2.5 μB for x = 0 to 3.6 μB for x = 0.4 at 100 K with a simultaneous increase in the magnetocrystalline anisotropy energy density constant from 1.3 × 105 to 3.3 × 105 Jm−3. These results clearly show the capability of magnetic properties tunability of Heusler alloys with substitution.

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Acknowledgements

The authors wish to acknowledge the Nanomission, Department of Science and Technology, Govt. of India for financial support and IIT Bombay-Central facilities for magnetic characterization.

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  1. Department of Metallurgical Engineering and Materials Science, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Mumbai, 400076, India

    Md. Mofasser Mallick & Satish Vitta

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  1. Md. Mofasser Mallick
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  2. Satish Vitta
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Correspondence to Md. Mofasser Mallick or Satish Vitta.

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Mallick, M.M., Vitta, S. Enhanced magnetic moment and curie temperature due to co-substitution in Heusler alloys Fe2−xCoxMnSi. J Mater Sci: Mater Electron 29, 1420–1425 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10854-017-8049-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10854-017-8049-1

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