The effects of high-energy milling on the structural and hyperfine properties of YFe2

Moessbauer spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction and nuclear magnetic resonance have been used to study the effects of severe milling on the atomic and magnetic properties of the ferromagnetic intermetallic Laves phase compound YFe2. The Moessbauer effect and nuclear magnetic resonance were carried out on the Fe site and on the Y site, respectively. Consistently, after 30 h of milling, the results indicate that the milling process induces structure and atomic disorder. The X-ray diffraction pattern shows no crystalline reflection planes, indicating that the structure is amorphous within the experimental resolution. The Curie temperature reduces from 542 K to less than 100 K after 50 h milling, although at 4.2 K the average 57Fe magnetic hyperfine field value remains near the same as in the original crystalline compound. ((orig.))