Refining crystal structure of the intermetallic compound Y2Fe17 by powder neutron diffraction

The crystal structure of the Y2Fe17 intermetallic compound was refined by t he powder X-ray and neutron diffraction techniques. The real structure of t he Y2Fe17 compound is shown to represent a disordered variant of the ideal structure of the Th2Ni17 type with partial exchange between Y atoms from 2b sites and Fe dumbbells from 4f sites and with partial occupation of 4e pos itions by Fe atoms. Besides, Y atoms can occupy vacant 2c sites in the iron planes, which causes their distortion and leads to splitting of the 12j po sitions of Fe into two positions.