RESEARCH ON THE ORIGIN OF MAGNETOCRYSTALLINE ANISOTROPY IN R2FE14B COMPOUNDS

A model for the calculation of the magneto-crystalline anisotropy in R 2Fe14B (R is a rare earth) compounds is presented. According to the mo del, a combined effect on the R-ion, coming from both the crystal fiel d of ligands and the electric field of itinerant electrons, results in the anisotropy of the compounds. An approach of calculating the inter action between the itinerant electrons and the central R-ion is given. Taking account of the combined effect, we calculated the temperature dependences of the anisotropy of all the five R2Fe14B-type (R = Pr, Nd , Tb, Dy and Ho) compounds with uniaxial anisotropy. The results are i n good agreement with the experiments. The calculation has shown that the effect of the itinerant electrons plays an important role for the anisotropy of the compounds.