MN SUBSTITUTION EFFECT ON MAGNETIC AND MAGNETOSTRICTIVE PROPERTIES OFHOFE2

The cubic Laves phase compounds Ho(Fe1-xMnx)2 (x=0, 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4 ) are investigated by magnetization and magnetostriction measurements. With increasing x value, the saturation magnetization increases and t he Curie temperature drops. It was found that the easy direction magne tostriction lambda100, which is estimated from polycrystalline data, i ncreases with increasing Mn content, while the hard direction magnetos triction lambda111 becomes low. This can be related to the fact that t he first-order anisotropy constant K1 for the compounds, obtained by t he ''law of approach to saturation'', decreases with increasing Mn con tent.