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 tempe
rature 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.
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-p
hase 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.
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 ca
ses 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.
