Magnetic properties of the Fe5SiB2-Fe5PB2 system

The magnetic properties of the compound Fe5Si1-xPxB2 have been studied, with a focus on the Curie temperature T-C, saturation magnetization MS, and magnetocrystalline anisotropy. Field and temperature dependent magnetization measurements were used to determine T-C(x) and M-S(x). The saturation magnetization at 10 K (300 K) is found to monotonically decrease from 1.11 MA/m (1.03 MA/m) to 0.97 MA/m (0.87 MA/m), as x increases from 0 to 1. The Curie temperature is determined to be 810 and 615 K in Fe5SiB2 and Fe5PB2, respectively. The highest T-C is observed for x = 0.1, while it decreases monotonically for larger x. The Curie temperatures have also been theoretically determined to be 700 and 660 K for Fe5SiB2 and Fe5PB2, respectively, using a combination of density functional theory and Monte Carlo simulations. The magnitude of the effective magnetocrystalline anisotropy was extracted using the law of approach to saturation, revealing an increase with increasing phosphorus concentration. Low-field magnetization vs temperature results for x = 0,0.1,0.2 indicate that there is a transition from easy-axis to easy-plane anisotropy with decreasing temperature.