Investigations of the magnetic properties of quasicrystalline AlGeMn I. General magnetic properties

Abstract Ferromagnetic Al 61 Ge 18 Mn 21 quasicrystals are produced by the melt spinning technique. The existence of the icosahedral phase could be detected by electron diffraction patterns. DC measurements of the magnetic polarization have been made as a function of temperature and applied field. The temperature dependence of the magnetic polarization and the behavior of the hysteresis loops is investigated and compared with results obtained for the disordered crystalline alloy of the same composition. In the rapidly quenched material two magnetic phases could be detected, whereas the disordered crystalline alloy is characterized by only one magnetic phase. The temperature dependence of the polarization J ( T ) of hte quasicrystalline phase shows remarkable irreversible behavior. At fields of μm 0 H = 1 mT and μm 0 H = 1 T, the temperature dependence of the polarization J ( T , μm 0 H ) can be described by Bloch's T 3 2 law.