Neutron and X-ray diffraction study of Y2Co17-xZrxand Y2Co17-yMnycompounds

The ternary Y2Co17-based systems in which Co is replaced by Zr and Mn have been studied by neutron diffraction, X-ray diffraction and magnetic measurements to ascertain the effect of the substitution on their crystallographic properties and magnetocrystalline anisotropy. The x-ray diffraction and magnetic measurements showed that in Y2Co17the easy magnetization direction lies in the basal plane, however, in the ternary Y2Co17-xZrxand Y2Co17-yMnycompounds, a change of the direction of easy magnetization occurs with a small amount of Zr and Mn. From the neutron diffraction results we found that the Zr and Mn atoms prefer to occupy the 6c sites. This is the reason that the easy magnetization direction changes from basal plane to the c-axis.