The magnetic properties of icosahedral Mg42RE8Zn50 (RE identical to Gd, Tb, Dy, Ho or Er) quasi-crystals have been investigated. These quasi-crystalline phases have a face-centred icosahedral lattice with a highly ordered Frank-Rasper-type structure as identified by electron diffraction and X-ray diffraction. The temperature dependence of DC magnetic susceptibility obeys a Curie-Weiss law in wide temperature ranges. The effective magnetic moments mu eff are close to those of free RE3+ ions and their paramagnetic Curie temperature Theta p is negative, indicating that the RE-RE exchange interactions are predominantly antiferromagnetic. The value of Theta p which is the sum of all exchange interactions is almost in proportion to the de Gennes factor. At low temperatures, spin-glass behaviour has been observed in the icosahedral Mg42Gd8Zn50 and Mg42Tb8Zn50 quasi-crystals and their spin freezing temperatures Tf are 5.5 K and 7.6 K, respectively.
A new class of amorphous and icosahedral phases has been obtained in rapidly solidified Zn-Mg-Rare-Earth Metal (RE) ternary alloys. The rapidly solidified alloy structure exhibits the amorphous phase when it contains the RE elements of La, Ce, Pr or Eu with large atomic size. On the other hand, it exhibits the icosahedral phase when it contains Nd, Sm, Gd, Tb, Dy, Ho, Er, Tm, Yb, Lu or Y. The tendency for the formation of amorphous or icosahedral phase is mainly dominated by the atomic size of RE elements.
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