Effect of Mo content on the structural and physical properties of Cr100-xMox alloys

Abstract

Alloying Cr with Mo, which is isoelectric with it, shows an unexpected decrease in the Néel temperature (TN) with an increase in Mo concentration. This is attributed to a delocalization of the 3-d bands in Cr through the introduction of 4-d electrons of Mo. In the present investigation the effect of Mo concentration on the structural, magnetic and electrical properties of Cr is systematically studied. A series of Cr100-xMox alloys, with x = 0, 3, 7, 15 and 25, was prepared and the actual concentrations established using electron microprobe analyses. XRD studies confirm the bcc structure of these alloys as in pure Cr and indicate an increase in lattice constant with an increase in Mo concentration. The crystallite sizes calculated from these results for the Cr100-xMox alloys ranges between 15 and 30 nm. The physical properties of these alloys were investigated through magnetic susceptibility (χ), Seebeck coefficient (S), electrical resistivity (ρ) and Hall coefficient (RH) as function of temperature (T) measurements. TN values obtained from these measurements are comparable.