Structure and magnetic properties of (Sm1−xPrx)2Fe14Ga3C2 (x=0–0.5)

The structure and magnetic properties of arc-melted (Sm,Pr)2Fe14Ga3C2 compounds and as-spun ribbons were studied. X-ray diffraction results show that (Sm1−xPrx)2Fe14Ga3C2 compounds are single-phase with the Th2Zn17-type structure. With the increase of x from 0 to 0.5, a monotonic increase of the saturation magnetization from 93 to 104 emu g−1 was obtained in the compounds. All compounds of (Sm1−xPrx)2Fe14Ga3C2 studied in this work exhibit an easy c-axis anisotropy at room temperature. A small amount of Pr substitution for Sm increases the remanence of (Sm1−xPrx)2Fe14Ga3C2 ribbons from 0.49 to 0.57 T due to an increase in the saturation magnetization of the (Sm1−xPrx)2Fe14Ga3C2 phase, and then the remanence falls off slowly with x because of the appearance of (Sm,Pr)Fe2. The decrease of the coercivity with x has been found to arise from the decrease in the anisotropy field of the Sm2Fe14Ga3C2 phase due to the replacement of Sm by Pr. A maximum energy product of 71 kJ m−3 for (Sm1−xPrx)2Fe14Ga3C2 ribbons with x=0.2 was obtained at a wheel speed of 17.5 m s−1.