Magnetic Susceptibilities of Palladium–Rhodium Alloys from 20° to 300° K.

Abstract

THE rapid, yet accurate, method of measurement and the results thereby obtained for the magnetic susceptibilities of platinum, rhodium and palladium between liquid hydrogen and room temperatures have been previously described by two of us¹. The same measurement techniques were afterwards applied to a series of polycrystalline palladium–silver alloys; the specific heats of these alloys have also been investigated (both sets of results yet unpublished). The results, when interpreted through the collective electron theory, make possible an estimate of the size and shape of the normally unfilled portion of the d electronic energy-band of metallic palladium, on the assumption that the addition of small amounts of silver to palladium cause a reduction of the number of holes in the d-band without significantly modifying its shape. With the filling of the band, it would be expected that the magnetic susceptibility and its variation with temperature would be affected. It was actually found experimentally that both decreased monotonically with increased silver content.