Antiferromagnetic behaviour of Tb<inf>2</inf>Al alloy

Abstract

The structural, thermal and magnetic properties of the Tb2Al alloy have been investigated by AC/DC magnetic susceptibility, specific heat, X-ray and neutron diffraction measurements. DC and AC-magnetic susceptibility results are consistent with an AFM order at TN = 52 K. The specific heat data show a lambda anomaly associated to the magnetic transition with a peak at 52 K (cord = 99 J/molTbK). The analysis of thermodiffractograms of neutron diffraction patterns indicates that, below the ordering temperature, the magnetic reflections can be indexed with a commensurate lattice related to the crystallographic cell (Pmna) by a propagation vector k = (1/2, 1/2, 1/2). The results are compared with those reported for other magnetic rare earth alloys of R2Al-type (with R = Nd, Gd and Dy).