New intermetallic compounds found in Hf-Ni-Ge and Hf-Pt-Ge systems

New intermetallic compounds, Hf3Ni4Ge4 and HfPtGe, were found and their crystallographic, electric and magnetic properties were characterized. Hf,Ni,Ge, has an orthorhombic structure (space group Immm) with lattice constants of a=1.2873 nm, b=0.6484 nm, and c=0.3892 nm and shows typical Curie-paramagnetic behavior between 2 K and 300 K and a metallic temperature dependence of the resistivity at temperatures between 10 and 250 K. HfPtGe has an orthorhombic structure (space group Pnma) with lattice constants of a=0.6603 nm, b=0.3950 nm, and c=0.7617 nm and shows diamagnetism and a metallic temperature dependence of the resistivity. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science S.A. All rights reserved.