Metamagnetism of itinerant d-electrons in YCo2: Investigation of metamagnetic transitions in Y(Co, Al)2

The magnetization of Y(Co/sub 1-x/Al/sub x/) intermetallides is studied for strong pulsed magnetic fields< or =450 kOe and for T = 4.2--300 K. A metamagnetic transition from the paramagnetic to the ferromagnetic state occurs for x> or =0.075 at a field whose strength decreases as x increases. The band model for d-electron metamagnetism is used to interpret the results. The metamagnetic transition field 660 kOe and the magnetic moment 1.4μ/sub B// (formula unit) which characterize the magnetization curve for YCo2 are found by extrapolating to x = 0. The results are compared with data for other RCo2 compounds for which the cobalt subsystem has similar properties