A MOSSBAUER-EFFECT STUDY OF Y2FE17 AND Y2FE17N2.6

The Mossbauer effect spectra of Y2Fe17 and Y2Fe17N2.6 obtained at 85 K , are analyzed with a model consistent with their crystallographic str uctures and band structure calculations of their magnetic moments. The increases in the individual site isomer shifts and hyperfine fields u pon nitrogenation correlate well with the increases in both the indivi dual Wigner-Seitz cell volumes and the magnetic moments. The spectral analysis, which requires ten sextets, indicates that the magnetization lies in a general direction in the hexagonal basal plane of these com pounds.