Antiferromagnetism of the FeNb and FeTa MU-phases

The magnetic structure of the antiferromagnetic FeNb and FeTa alloys has been investigated using a variety of techniques including susceptibility. Mössbauer and neutron diffraction measurements. Our results indicate a simple structure in which alternate Kagomé layers of Fe atoms have their moments oriented in opposite directions, approximately perpendicular to the plane of the layers. Positive Weiss temperatures confirm that the dominant nearest neighbour intra-layer interactions are ferromagnetic. Specific heat and low angle neutron scattering observations suggest extensive short-range order above T_N. The substantial non-magnetic contribution to the Mössbauer spectra is shown to result from ≈ 25% occupation of the high-coordination ‘A’ sites by Fe atoms with a similar proportion of the low-coordinationB2 Kagomé sites occupied by Nb. A structural neutron super lattice line too weak to have been observed in earlier work using X-rays suggests that the true μ-phase unit cell may be three times larger in dimensions than previously envisaged.