Magnetic properties and crystal structure of melt-spun Sm(Co, M)7 (M = Al and Si) ribbons

Effect of Si and Al contents on the magnetic properties and crystal structure of melt-spun SmCo7-xMx (M = Al and Si) ribbons have been investigated. The Rietveld refinement results show that Al and Si prefer to occupy the 3g site in the TbCu7-type structure. The changes in both the magnetocrystalline anisotropy field and the microstructure with Si or Al substitution may account for the variation of magnetic properties. The coercivity of SmCo7-xSix ribbons is enhanced from 1.9 kOe for SmCo7 to 4.7 kOe for SmCo6.5Si0.5 and 2.6 kOe for SmCo6.95Al0.05, which is mainly because of the enhancement of magnetic anisotropy field by the Si and Al substitution for Co in 3g sites. Furthermore, in melt-spun SmCo7-xMx ribbons system, with increasing x, the grain size is slightly reduced for M = Si, but increased for M = Al. In addition, with further increasing x, the enhancement of coercivity is attributed to both the third element substitution for Co in 3g sites and grain refinement. (C) 2012 American Institute of Physics. [doi:10.1063/1.3671429]