Field and temperature dependence of magnetization of U₃P₄

Conclusions

We conclude that the occurrence of a maximum in the magnetization versus temperature curve observed under certain circumstances on U₃P₄ is not connected with its intrinsic magnetic structure, but substantially depends on the form in which the material is studied (polycrystalline powder, single crystal, single crystal powders with various dimensions of grains). This phenomenon seems to be affected by “quenching” of the state from the region of low anisotropy at higher temperature in the small particles with a strong tendency to single domain behaviour and thus it may be a consequence of rotation magnetization process in the fields relatively small for U₃P₄. The assertion about transitions between magnetic ordering, sometimes proposed in the literature on the basis of observed anomalies in the temperature course of magnetization without simultaneous confirmation by neutron diffraction, should be accepted with some reservation, especially in the case of simple uranium compounds. However, another situation arises for pseudobinary alloys of ferro- and antiferromagnetic components (e.g. UP_0·75S_0·25) where such transitions were confirmed both by magnetic methods and by neutron diffraction studies [13].