The magnetostriction of PrAl₂and TbAl₂

Abstract

The magnetostriction of single crystals of PrAl2 and TbAl2 has been measured throughout the ordered state. The magnetoelastic constants M2y and M2epsilon have been determined. Previous work has already established that the point-charge model accounts satisfactorily for the magnetoelastic constants of NdAl2. The present results show that this model applies equally well to TbAl2 and would probably do so for PrAl2 if better values for the cubic crystal field parameters could be obtained.