Magnetic characteristics of CeNi5−xCux (x=0, 1, 2, 2.5, 3, and 4) alloys and their hydrides

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Abstract
Susceptibilities were measured for the series of CeNi5−xCux (x=0, 1, 2, 2.5, 3, and 4) alloys and their hydrides over the temperature range 4.2–300 K in an applied field up to 20 kOe. All materials studied were found to crystallize in CaCu5‐type crystal structure. A pronounced change in lattice parameters was observed for x=2.5. Materials with x=0, 1, and 2 exhibit Pauli paramagnetism, while for x>2 the total susceptibility can be regarded as a sum of Pauli paramagnetism and Curie–Weiss paramagnetism associated with the Ce3+ ions. The effective fraction of Ce3+ in all compounds was calculated. Hydrogenation increased the unit cell volume ∼15% without a change of crystal structure. It also caused an increase in effective moment for x=2.5 and x=3 alloys, but a small decrease was observed for x=4.