Systematic Exploration of the Ternary Dy–Ir–Sn System with Magnetic Property Investigation

Abstract

The ternary Dy–Ir–Sn system phase equilibria at 800 °C were investigated with a goal of identifying novel phases. Samples were prepared by arc-melting and subsequent annealing and then characterized using scanning electron microscopy, powder X-ray diffraction, and single-crystal X-ray diffraction. To streamline the exploratory process, a scalable, high-throughput framework was developed to automate the summary of crystallographic data, which aids the systematic exploration of ternary intermetallic systems and provides a reproducible methodology for exploratory materials characterization. The newly identified intermetallic phases were further investigated using density functional theory (DFT) to probe their electronic structures, alongside magnetic characterization to elucidate their magnetic ground states. We report four novel ternary compounds: DyIrSn (ZrNiAl-type), Dy26Ir9.25Sn7.75 (Sm26Co11Ga6-type), Dy4Ir7Sn6 (U4Re7Si6-type), and Dy3Ir2.5Sn3.5 (Lu3Co2In4-type). Magnetic measurements were done on pure samples of bulk polycrystalline DyIrSn and Dy26Ir9.25Sn7.75, revealing antiferromagnetic- and ferrimagnetic-like behavior, respectively, with both inverse susceptibilities and Curie–Weiss fits consistent with a trivalent Dy3+ moment. In DyIrSn, there is an AFM-like transition near TN= 7.25 K, with a second anomaly near T2 = 4.9 K. Dy26Ir9.25Sn7.75 shows ZFC-FC irreversibility below 40 K, likely due to magnetic ordering.