Effect of thermal conductivity on ultrasonic attenuation in praseodymium monochalcogenides

The ultrasonic attenuation in intermetallic praseodymium monochalcogenides are evaluated in the temperature interval 100–500 K along the crystallographic directions 〈100〉, 〈110〉, and 〈111〉 for longitudinal and shear waves. A comparison has been made with lanthanum monochalcogenides and other similar materials. Ultrasonic attenuation at different temperatures is mainly affected by the lattice thermal conductivity values of the materials at these temperatures. Thermoelastic loss is very small in comparison to the attenuation due to phonon-phonon interaction mechanism at higher temperatures.