Magnetocrystalline anisotropy of the 3d sublattice in the cubic intermetallic system Zr6Co23-xMx (M= Fe, Ni)

The magnetocrystalline anisotropy behavior of the 3d sublattice was studied in the face‐centered‐cubic system Zr6Co23−xMx (M=Fe,Ni). A remarkably high anisotropy field was required to saturate the magnetization along both the [100] and [110] hard directions. The values found are, respectively, HA=43 kOe and HA=33 kOe at 293 K for Zr6Co23. The partial substitution of Co with Ni results in a substantial increase of the anisotropy while saturation magnetization and Curie temperature decrease linearly. On the contrary, the partial substitution with Fe gives rise to a decrease of HA and to an increase of both σs and Tc. The 10th power law does not apply to the functional temperature dependence of the resulting anisotropy in this system.