Structural and magnetic properties of bulk nanocrystalline Erbium metal

Bulk nanocrystalline Erbium metals were prepared via Spark Plasma Sintering (SPS) and subsequent annealing process. The nanocrystalline Er metals have the same hexagonal close packed structure as that of coarse-grained sample. Decrease in grain size results in remarkable changes in the three magnetic ordering temperatures of the nanocrystalline Er metal. At 5 K, the magnetization drops by 10.9%, while the coercivity increases by 4 times for nanocrystalline Er compared with those of coarse-grained sample. These results indicate the remarkable influence of the nanostructure on the magnetism of Er due to finite size effect.