Abstract :
The rare earth metal (RE)-manganese alloys and compounds are interesting, especially with respect to their magnetic properties, since Mn is the first element of the 3d metals, which forms intermetallic compounds with RE metals. The preparation of such compounds by ordinary techniques is difficult, therefore the so-called amalgam process has been used throughout for preparing single-phased, magnetically pure specimens. In this paper magnetic measurements on the compounds RE6Mn23, (RE = Gd, Dy, Er, Y), REMn12(RE = Gd, Dy, Er) and REMn2(RE = Gd, Dy, Er) are reported. In all of these compounds a ferro-, ferri-, or antiferromagnetic coupling of the moments is observed. The magnetic properties of these compounds are discussed and can be explained by transitions between several different ferri- or ferromagnetic states, depending on field strength and temperature.
