STRUCTURAL AND MAGNETIC CHARACTERISTICS OF THE INTERMETALLIC COMPOUNDS HO2AL17 AND ER2AL17

The intermetallic compounds R2Al17 (R=Ho,Er) crystallize in the Th2Zn1 7-type structure (space group R3mBAR) with the lattice parameters a = 8.5064 angstrom, c = 13.0642 angstrom and a = 8.4571 angstrom, c = 13. 0027 angstrom respectively (hexagonal cell). The refinements are based on the space group R3mBAR and converge at the conventional R values: 4.8% for Ho2Al17 and 5.4% for Er2Al17. The magnetic susceptibility mea surements show a paramagnetic behaviour for these compounds. The magne tic susceptibility obeys the Curie-Weiss law modified by a constant te rm chi0. All contributions in chi0 (chi(P), chi(orb), chi(VV), chi(L), chi(dia)) were calculated. The effective magnetic moments per formula unit are very close to the calculated values.