Experimental determination of electronic and magnetic properties of diluted liquid aluminum-based 3d transition metal alloys

Measurements of the resistivity, the thermopower and the magnetic susceptibility of aluminium based 3d transition metal alloys with impurity concentrations of 1 at% Fe, Co and Ni have been carried out above the melting point. Because of the high chemical reactivity of the liquid aluminium an alumina technology had to be used for the measurements; the experimental procedure applied for the determination of the thermopower is described in many details. The interpretation is based of the Friedel-Anderson model in terms of virtual bound states in the nonmagnetic regime. The calculations indicate a nonmagnetic character for the alloys of iron, cobalt and nickel with aluminium. However, taking our precedent interpretation of the measurements in the AlMn system into consideration, AlMn and AlFe alloys have the same experimental quasi-magnetic behaviour; there is evidence that the electronic transport properties of the AlFe, as that of AlMn, may be interpreted in terms of the ''localized spin fluctuation'' model.