Effect of substitution of Co with Fe on the structural, electronic and magnetic properties of Heusler alloy Co₂CrAl

We investigate the effect of the substitution of Co with Fe on the structural, electronic and magnetic properties of a series of quaternary Co_2−xFe_xCrAl Heusler alloys. The alloy orders in the B2 structure for composition of x≥0.4. The half metallicity in the parent Co₂CrAl is retained in the whole series of alloys on partial substitution of Co with Fe atoms. DC magnetization studies evidence a linear increase in saturation magnetization and Curie temperature increase in Fe content. Mössbauer spectra show that along the series the average hyperfine field and combined relative area under the curve of sextets increase linearly with increase in Fe content corroborating results obtained from DC magnetization studies