Preferential Site Occupation in Y and La Substituted Pr2Fe14B Intermetallic Compounds

The crystal structure of Y and La substituted Pr2Fe14B intermetallic compounds has been determined by high resolution neutron time-of-flight powder diffraction. A model which takes into account the rare-earth site occupancies and the measured magnetic anisotropy in Pr2Fe14B and Nd2Fe14B indicates that the contribution of the 4f site anisotropy to the total axial anisotropy is larger than that of the 4g site in Nd2Fe14B compounds. In Pr2Fe14B compounds, however, the 4f and 4g site anisotropies are equal.