MAGNETIC-PROPERTIES OF TERNARY CHROMIUM SULFIDES, VXCR3-XS4 LESS-THAN-OR-EQUAL-TO-X-LESS-THAN-OR-EQUAL-TO-1.0)

A series of phases VxCr3-xS4(0.0 less than or equal to x less than or equal to 1.0) have been prepared by high-temperature synthesis and cha racterised by thermogravimetry, energy dispersive X-ray microanalysis and powder X-ray diffraction in conjunction with Rietveld profile anal ysis. Data are consistent with the formation of single-phase products which an adopt the; Cr3S4 structure (space group, 12/m: a approximate to 5.9, b approximate to 3.4, c approximate to 11.2 Angstrom, beta app roximate to 91.4 degrees). Magnetic susceptibility data indicate that spin-glass behaviour persists in the range 0.4 less than or equal to x less than or equal to 1.0, whilst data for x = 0.2 suggest that there is a slow freezing of spins prior to the onset of long-range magnetic ordering observed for x = 0.0.