Abstract
Evidence for giant magnetic moments in the metastable nitride α‘Fe16N2 is reviewed, with reference to the related stable nitride γ’Fe4N and αFe. It is concluded from a survey of electronic structure calculations, Mössbauer spectra, and magnetization measurements on bulk multiphase samples that the average iron moment in α‘Fe16N2 at T∼0 lies in the range 2.3–2.6 μB. A significantly larger moment of about 2.9 μB appears on the 4d sites which have no nitrogen neighbors.