Abstract book - phy

P-5 47
Physical properties of
Zr 50 Cu 40−x Al 10 Pd x bulk glassy alloys
Anton Gradišek 1 , Magdalena Wencka 1 , Marko Jagodič 2 ,
Andraž Kocjan 1 , Zvonko Jagličić 2 , Paul J. McGuiness 1 ,
Tomaž Apih 1 , Yoshihiko Yokoyama 3 , Janez Dolinšek 1
1 J. Stefan Institute, University of Ljubljana, Jamova 39,
SI-1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia
2 Institute of Mathematics, Physics and Mechanics, University
of Ljubljana, Jadranska 19, SI-1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia
3 Institute for Materials Research, Tohoku University, Katahira
2-1-1, Aobaku, Sendai 980-8577, Japan
We performed a study of the magnetic properties, the specific heat,
the electrical resistivity and the hydrogen diffusion constant for a series
of compositions Zr 50 Cu 40−x Al 10 Pd x (x = 0–7 at. %), in order to determine
their physical properties. The Zr 50 Cu 40−x Al 10 Pd x BGAs are nonmagnetic,
conducting alloys, where the Pauli spin susceptibility of the conduction
electrons is the only source of paramagnetism. The low-temperature
specific heat indicates an enhancement of the conduction-electron effective
mass below 5 K, suggesting that the Zr 50 Cu 40−x Al 10 Pd x BGAs are
not free-electron-like compounds. The hydrogen self-diffusion constant D
in hydrogen-loaded samples was determined by NMR in a fringe field of
a superconducting magnet. The diffusion shows a classical over-barrierhopping
temperature dependence and is of comparable magnitude to the
related icosahedral and amorphous Zr 69.5 Cu 12 Ni 11 Al 7.5 hydrogen-storage
alloys, so that Zr 50 Cu 40−x Al 10 Pd x BGAs are candidate materials for the
hydrogen-storage applications. No correlation between the investigated
physical parameters and the Pd content of the samples could be observed.