The effect of Fe doping on structural and magnetic properties of nanocrystallite Co2Cr1−xFexAl Heusler alloys prepared by mechanical alloying

Mechanical alloying has been used to produce nanocrystallite Co2Cr1−xFexAl (x = 0, 0.4, 0.6, 1) Heusler alloys. The formation of the L21 phase of Co2Cr1−xFexAl by the mechanical alloying method was investigated. The effect of Fe doping on the structural and magnetic properties of the samples was also studied. The results were compared with the Slater Pauling prediction. A comparison between these samples and those prepared by the arc-melting method in the literature was made. An increase of the coercivity Hc with the increasing Fe doping level was observed. This phenomenon was explained by the increases of lattice strain and magnetic anisotropy with the increasing Fe content.