Single-phase polycrystalline samples and single crystals of the complex boride phases Ti 8 Fe 3 Ru 18 B 8 and Ti 7 Fe 4 Ru 18 B 8 have been synthesized by arc melting the elements. The phases were characterized by powder and single-crystal X-ray diffraction as well as energy-dispersive X-ray analysis. They are new substitutional variants of the Zn 11 Rh 18 B 8 structure type, space group P4/mbm (no. 127). The particularity of their crystal structure lies in the simultaneous presence of dumbbells which form ladders of magnetically active iron atoms along the [001] direction and two additional mixed iron/titanium chains occupying Wyckoff sites 4h and 2b. The ladder substructure is ca. 3.0 Å from the two chains at the 4h, which creates the sequence chain-ladder-chain, establishing a new structural and magnetic motif, the scaffold. The other chain (at 2b) is separated by at least 6.5 Å from this scaffold. According to magnetization measurements,
ABSTRACT:Single-phase polycrystalline samples and single crystals of the complex boride phases Ti 8 Fe 3 Ru 18 B 8 and Ti 7 Fe 4 Ru 18 B 8 have been synthesized by arc melting the elements. The phases were characterized by powder and single-crystal X-ray diffraction as well as energy-dispersive X-ray analysis. They are new substitutional variants of the Zn 11 Rh 18 B 8 structure type, space group P4/mbm (no. 127). The particularity of their crystal structure lies in the simultaneous presence of dumbbells which form ladders of magnetically active iron atoms along the [001] direction and two additional mixed iron/titanium chains occupying Wyckoff sites 4h and 2b. The ladder substructure is ca. 3.0 Å from the two chains at the 4h, which creates the sequence chainÀladderÀchain, establishing a new structural and magnetic motif, the scaffold. The other chain (at 2b) is separated by at least 6.5 Å from this scaffold. According to magnetization measurements, Ti 8 Fe 3 Ru 18 B 8 and Ti 7 Fe 4 Ru 18 B 8 order ferrimagnetically below 210 and 220 K, respectively, with the latter having much higher magnetic moments than the former. However, the magnetic moment observed for Ti 8 Fe 3 Ru 18 B 8 is unexpectedly smaller than the recently reported Ti 9 Fe 2 Ru 18 B 8 ferromagnet. The variation of the magnetic moments observed in these new phases can be adequately understood by assuming a ferrimagnetic ordering involving the three different iron sites. Furthermore, the recorded hysteresis loops indicate a semihard magnetic behavior for the two phases. The highest H c value (28.6 kA/m), measured for Ti 7 Fe 4 Ru 18 B 8 , lies just at the border of those of hard magnetic materials.