A low-temperature magnetism was revealed in a series of sigma-Fe(100-x)Mo(x) alloys (x=45-53). Its characterization has been done using vibrating sample magnetometry, Mossbauer spectroscopy, and ac magnetic susceptibility. The magnetic ordering temperature was determined to lie in the range of 46 K for x=45 and 22K for x=53, and the ground magnetic state was found to be typical of a spin-glass.
A series of nine samples of sigma-Fe_{100-x}Mo_x with 44<x<57 were synthesized by a sintering method. The samples were investigated experimentally and theoretically. Using X-ray diffraction techniques structural parameters such as lattice constants, atomic positions within the unit cell and populations of atoms over five different sublattices were determined. An information on charge-densities and electric field gradients at particular lattice sites was obtained by application of the Korringa-Kohn-Rostoker (KKR) method for electronic structure calculations. Hyperfine quantities calculated with KKR were successfully applied to analyze Mossbauer spectra measured at room temperature.
Systematic experimental (vibrating sample magnetometry) and theoretical (electronic structure calculations using charge and spin self-consistent Korringa-Kohn-Rostoker Green function method) studies were performed on a series of intermetallic sigma-phase Fe(100-x)Re(x) (x = 43-53) compounds. Clear evidence was found that all investigated samples exhibit magnetism with an ordering temperature ranging between 65 K for x = 43 and 23 K for x = 53. The magnetism was revealed to be itinerant and identified as a spin-glass (SG) possibly having a re-entrant character. The SG was found to be heterogeneous viz. two regimes could be distinguished as far as irreversibility in temperature dependence of magnetization is concerned: (1) of a weak irreversibility and (2) of a strong one. According to the theoretical calculations the main contribution to the magnetism comes from Fe atoms occupying all five sub lattices. Re atoms have rather small moments. However, the calculated average magnetic moments are highly (ferromagnetic ordering model) or moderately (antiparallel ordering model) overestimated relative to the experimental data.
Formation energy of the sigma-phase in the Fe-V alloy system, Delta E, was computed in the full compositional range of its occurrence (34 < x < 60) using the electronic band structure calculations by means of the KKR method. Delta E-values were found to strongly depend on the Fe concentration, also its variation with different site occupancies was characteristic of a given lattice site. Calculated magnetic and configuration entropy contributions were used to determine sublattice occupancies for various compositions and temperatures. The results agree well with those obtained from neutron diffraction measurements.
Anomalies in the temperature dependences of the recoil-free factor, f, and the average center shift, <CS>, measured by 57-Fe Mossbauer Spectroscopy, were observed for the first time in the archetype of the sigma-phase alloys system, Fe-Cr. In both cases the anomaly started at the temperature close to the magnetic ordering temperature, and in both cases it was indicative of lattice vibrations hardening. As no magnetostrictive effects were found, the anomalies seem to be entirely due to a spin-phonon coupling. The observed changes in f and in <CS> were expressed in terms of the underlying changes in the potential, Delta E_p, and the kinetic energy, Delta E_k, respectively. The former, with the maximum value larger by a factor of six than the latter, decreases, while the latter increases with T. The total mechanical energy change, Delta E, was, in general, not constant, as expected for the Debye-like vibrations, but it resembled that of Delta E_p. Only in the range of 4-15 K, Delta E was hardly dependent on T.
The magnetic phase diagram in the H-T coordinates has been determined for {sigma}-Fe68V32 from the ZFC/FC magnetization measurements. The re-entrant character of magnetism, going from paramagnetic through ferromagnetic to spin-glass (SG) states, has been evidenced. The SG phase is magnetically heterogeneous, because two sub phases can be identified i.e. with the strong (SG-SI) and the weak (SG-WI) irreversibility. The ireversibility, T_irr and the crossover, T_cros, temperatures were quantitatively analysed using the mean-field theory and {phi}_irr=1.6(2) and {phi}_cros=0.91(9) values were obtained. A qualitative agreement with the Gabay-Toulouse model was reached. The isothermal magnetization measurements point to a soft magnetic behaviour of the studied sample. The {gamma} critical exponent was determined with the Kouvel-Fisher approach yielding the value of {gamma}=1.0(1) in line with the mean-field theory.