Magnetic Structure Studies of Copper-manganese Alloys by Neutron Diffraction

Neutron diffraction techniques should lend themselves to the study of the copper-manganese alloy system. First, the fact that the sign of the coherent neutron amplitude of manganese is opposite to that of copper would allow super-lattice lines due to atomic ordering in the crystal lattice to be easily observable; whereas, with X-rays the closeness of the atomic numbers of these elements would result in relatively faint super-lattice lines upon ordering. Second, copper being diamagnetic and manganese being paramagnetic, it is of interest to study by neutron diffraction any magnetic structures which might arise, and the variation of paramagnetic scattering with composition. X-ray and metallographic studies of the system have been reported by several investigators. Magnetic susceptibility and electrical conductivity properties of the system have been studied by Valentine and Becker.