Zero thermal expansion with high Curie temperature in Ho2Fe16Cr alloy

Abstract

We report the observation of zero thermal expansion with a high Curie temperature in a Ho₂Fe₁₆Cr alloy. Among the R₂Fe_17−xCr_x (R = rare earth elements) series of alloys, Ho₂Fe₁₆Cr shows not only enhancement of the Curie temperature (T_C) to 415 K in comparison with the parent compound Ho₂Fe₁₇ (330 K), but also shows zero thermal expansion (ZTE) in the wide temperature range 13–330 K due to reduction of the magneto-volume effect. We believe that such a single component ZTE magnetic material with a T_C higher than room temperature is of practical importance.