The magnetic properties of the RRh₄B₄ (R represents rare-earth metal) compounds are discussed in terms of a combined crystalline-electric-field and molecular-field approach. Magnetization data taken on single-crystal ErRh₄{B}₄$ in five orientations are used to obtain the crystal-field and molecular-field coefficients, resulting in a complete analysis for the paramagnetic properties of this compound. The crystal-field parameters are additionally used to discuss all previously published magnetic data for polycrystalline RRh₄B₄ compounds. For these highly anisotropic materials, the effect of preferential crystallite orientation on the observed data is pointed out. Consideration of the variation of the magnetic transition temperature Tₘ between different constituent rare earths has verified a previous conclusion that the crystal field has a pronounced effect on Tₘ, but this alone does not fully explain the observations.
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Dunlap et al. (1984) studied this question.