57Fe mossbauer studies of the (RE)Fe3intermetallic compounds

See also ibid., vol.5, no.5, p.1037 (1975). The methods described in the previous paper are used to analyse the complicated 57 fe mossbauer spectra of the (re)fe 3 intermetallic compounds, where re=gd, tb, dy, ho, er and y. The resultant hyperfine parameters are then used, in conjunction with local dipolar field calculations, to infer directions of preferred magnetization. In particular, it is shown that at 77k, hofe 3 magnetizes along an a axis, tbfe 3 along a b axis and erfe 3 either along or close to a c axis. The case of dyfe 3 however is slightly more complex and it appears that this compound does not magnetize along a principal hexagonal axis. Some similarities between the mossbauer spectra of the (re)fe 2 and (re)fe 3 compounds are also noted.