Magnetic properties of the pseudo-binary Fe2(Nb1-xMnx)

The magnetic behavior of the pseudo-binary system Fe2(Nb1-xMnx) is investigated by means of the experimental techniques of X-ray diffraction (XRD), Moessbauer Spectroscopy (MS) and magnetization studies. The XRD results indicate that, up to x=0.3, all samples are single phase with hcp structure. This corresponds to the solubility limit of manganese in this phase. Above x=0.3, all prepared samples present the coexistence of three phases, two with hcp structure and one fcc. The magnetization measurements at low temperatures indicate that the transition temperature increases with the addition of Mn atoms in the Fe2Nb host (TN=10 K) up to 58 K for x=0.1. The Moessbauer spectra were fitted with a quadrupole splitting distribution, which indicates that the average quadrupolar splitting increases slightly with the increase of the manganese concentration