Detailed study of NdFe2 and additional results relative to PrFe 2 and YbFe2. Comparison with other R.E. Fe2 compounds

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Abstract
This paper concludes a study of the three Laves phase compounds YbFe 2, NdFe2 and PrFe2. The properties of NdFe 2 have been thoroughly investigated with a number of techniques including X-ray diffraction, magnetization measurements, 143Nd N.M.R., 57Fe Mössbauer effect and neutron diffraction. Some data is also reported on PrFe2 and YbFe2. The characteristics of these three compounds are compared with those of the rest of the RFe2 series leading to the following conclusions : a) the crystalline field at the Rare Earth is not constant throughout the series, b) the isotropic part of the hyperfine field at the iron includes a Lorentz term together with spin and (probably) orbital transferred contributions arising from the R.E., c) the anisotropic part of the hyperfine field only partly results from dipolar effects and seems to involve both an intrinsic d band contribution and a transferred contribution from the R.E., d) the hyperfine field at the Rare Earth nucleus is higher than the free ion hyperfine field in the second half of the series and lower in the first half of the series these deviations probably resulting from both self polarization effects and transferred fields from the iron