Electrical resistivity and magnetic susceptibility ofβ-cerium from 2 to 300 K

The electrical resistivity and magnetic susceptibility of allotropically pure $\beta$-Ce and $\gamma$-Ce and some two-phase ($\alpha +\beta$ or $\beta +\gamma$) samples, which were predominantly $\beta$-Ce, were measured from 2 to 300 K. Because $\beta$-Ce transforms to $\alpha$-Ce between 15 and 50 K, several unusual experimental techniques were used to obtain reliable data. Our results show that the electrical resistivity of $\beta$-Ce remains unusually large, > 50 μΩcm down to 40 K and below this temperature it drops an order of magnitude. The magnetic-susceptibility data show that $\beta$-Ce obeys the Curie-Weiss law down to near its Néel temperature, ∼ 12.5 K. Low-field susceptibility data, < 800 Oe, show a Néel temperature at 12.5 K and that the magnetic susceptibility near the ordering temperatures decreases with increasing field. X-ray metallographic data indicate that when $\beta$-Ce transforms to $\alpha$-Ce the initial growth occurs at the surface and grows inward. The unusual temperature dependence of the electrical resistivity of $\beta$-Ce could not be explained by several existing models (band-spin fluctuation or crystalline field) which have been used to explain large increases in the resistivity for other materials. However, a recently developed model based on Kondo scattering which is quenched by magnetic ordering appears to account for the observed results.