Magnetic Properties Of Nickel Telluride

Experimental results are reported of the magnetic properties of NiTe x , where x is the molal content of tellurium. When 0.1≤ x ≤0.65, this substance is found to be ferromagnetic; the variations with composition of the saturation magnetization and of the Curie temperature show evidences of a transition at x =0.33 (27 atomic percent Te) from a heterogeneous phase beginning at pure metallic nickel to a certain ferromagnetic homogeneous phase. A paramagnetic phase appears above x =0.7 (41 atomic percent Te), although its paramagnetic behaviour is not truely paramagnetic in the Curie-Weiss sense, especially at high temperatures, namely, a considerable temperature dependence of the susceptibility is observed at low temperatures and a temperature-independent susceptibility of a small value less than 0.5 emu/g at high temperatures. These behaviours of the susceptibility are apparently similar to those of Cu-rich Cu-Ni alloys studied by Kaufmann and Starr, though a marked dissimilarity is also found between their characters. Namely, an antiferromagnetic character is present in NiTe x at the paramagnetic compositions.