Structural and magnetic properties of the CeCo5-CeZn5 solid solution and potential improvements upon iron substitution

In an effort to create high-performance permanent magnets with reduced critical rare earth content, we explored the CeCo5-xTx (T = transition metal or metalloid) family of compounds to investigate the effect of substitution on the material's magnetic properties. In our exploration of the CeCo5-xZnx system, we discovered a continuous solid solution at 900 degrees C between the CeCo5 and CeZn5 binary phases with ferromagnetism existing from the CeCo5 compound to the intermediate CeCo2.75Zn2.25 compound. Single crystal studies were also conducted revealing a relatively large anisotropy field of 11.5 T at 300 K for Ce0.96Ta0.04Co4.35Zn0.65. The addition of iron Ce0.79Ta0.07Co3.77Fe0.89Zn0.47 yielded further increases in Curie temperature and saturation magnetization to 800 K and 85.5 emu/g, respectively.