Probing exotic magnetic phases and electrical transport in Cr-rich γ-NiFeCr alloys

We have identified ferromagnetic, antiferromagnetic, and re-entrant spin-glass-like phases in Cr-rich γ-NiFeCr alloys and studied their critical magnetic behavior. Their electrical resistivity exhibits distinct minima between 10 and 24 K with ρ∞−√T due to electron–electron interaction effects. Electron–phonon and electron–magnon contributions to ρ are isolated. The magnetoresistance shows hysteresis effects, a signature of spin-glass-like phases and a sign reversal with change of magnetic states. We have also observed that the nature of magnetic states strongly depends on the concentration of Fe and Cr. In this system, even a small amount of Fe enhances ferromagnetism a lot while addition of a little bit of Cr suppresses ferromagnetism and takes the system to the antiferromagnetic regime. The correlation between the magnetic and the electrical properties are more meaningful here since both studies were done on the same set of samples which have rather high melting points. - Highlights: • Identified ferro, antiferro, and re-entrant spin-glass phases in Ni–Fe–Cr alloys. • Resistivity ρ~−√T shows minima from 10–24 K due to electron–electron interaction. • Electron–phonon and electron–magnon contributions to ρ are isolated. • Magneto-transport measurements strengthened the magnetic phases identified. • Correlation in magnetic/electrical properties more meaningful if same samples used