Structure and properties of phases from solid solutions YTIn1−x Al x (T = Ni and Cu)

Abstract YNiIn and YCuIn form complete solid solutions YNiIn1−x Al x and YCuIn1−x Al x , which were characterized on the basis of X-ray powder diffraction. The ZrNiAl type crystal structures (space groups P 6 ‾ 2 m $P\overline{6}2m$ ) of YNiAl (a = 0.70386(9), c = 0.38327(4) nm, wR 2 = 0.0424), YNiIn0.77Al0.23 (a = 0.73895(9), c = 0.37707(4) nm, wR 2 = 0.0498) and YCuIn0.63Al0.37 (a = 0.73404(7), c = 0.39045(4) nm, wR 2 = 0.0314) were refined from the single crystal X-ray diffraction data. Exemplarily the electronic structure of YNiAl was studied, manifesting substantial Ni–Al bonding within the three-dimensional [NiAl] substructure. Comparison of YNiAl with isotypic YNiIn shows stronger Ni–Al bonding as compared to Ni–In. Magnetic susceptibility measurements of YNiIn1−x Al x (x = 0.1, 0.2, 0.7 and 0.9), YNiIn and YNiAl in the temperature range 3–300 K indicated Pauli paramagnetic behaviour with molar magnetic susceptibility of about 0.15–0.22 × 10−3 emu/mol.