ac susceptibility of thermally annealed and neutron irradiated Cu-Ni alloys
Thermal annealing and high-flux neutron irradiation are used to vary the degree of short-range atomic order in Cu-Ni alloys of composition 40, 50, and 60 at. pct Ni. The magnetic state is measured by ac magnetic susceptibility measurements. It is shown that annealing at 350 C causes significant changes in the susceptibility of all the samples. In the 50 and 60 at. pct Ni samples, the transition is broadened and extended to higher temperatures, while the 40 at. pct Ni sample changes from a paramagnetic system to a weakly ferromagnetic system. The neutron irradiation, in contrast to the thermal treatment, causes the development of smaller size cluster formations. The irradiated 60 at. pct Ni sample exhibits no change in the shape of its susceptibility curve from that of the quenched sample, whereas, the 40 pct alloy is changed, by irradiation, from a paramagnetic system to a spin-glass system.