Size effects in the magnetic behaviour of TbAl2 milled alloys

The study of the magnetic properties depending upon mechanical milling of the ferromagnetic polycrystalline TbAl2 material is reported. Rietveld analysis of the x-ray diffraction data reveals a decrease in the grain size down to 14 nm and a -0.15% variation in the lattice parameter, after 300 h of milling time. Irreversibility in the zero field cooled-field cooled (ZFC-FC) dc susceptibility and clear peaks in the ac susceptibility between 5 and 300 K show that the long-range ferromagnetic structure is inhibited in favour of a disordered spin arrangement below 45 K. This glassy behaviour is also deduced from the variation of the irreversibility transition with the field (H2/3) and frequency. The magnetization process of the bulk TbAl2 is governed by domain-wall thermal activation processes. In contrast, in the milled samples, cluster-glass properties arise as a result of cooperative interactions due to the substitutional disorder. The interactions are also influenced by the nanograin structure of the milled alloys, showing a variation in coercivity with the grain size, below the crossover between the multi- and single-domain behaviours.