Effects of pressure on magnetic interactions in the rare earth intermetallics R2Ni17

The Curie temperatures of Y₂Ni₁₇ and Dy₂Ni₁₇ were observed to vary with hydrostatic pressure at a rate of –0.44 K/kbar. The results for the compounds R₂Ni₁₇ were compared with previously reporteddT _c/dp data for R₂Co₁₇ and R₂Fe₁₇ and discussed in terms of simplified collective and localizedd-electron models. The former model suggests that R₂Ni₁₇ and R₂Co₁₇ are relatively far from the Stoner instability limit, while the compounds R₂Fe₁₇ approach very weak itinerant ferromagnetism. The slow pressure variation of the compensation temperature of Dy₂Ni₁₇, –0.03 K/kbar, was attributed to the insensitivity of the R-Ni interaction to interatomic spacing.