Magnetic Properties of Gold-Iron Alloys

The alloys of gold and iron of different compositions ranging from 0.07 to 10 percent iron by weight have been studied. It was found that the alloys containing 0.1 to 5 percent iron are paramagnetic. Their susceptibilities decrease with rising temperature in a characteristic way, but do not follow either Curie's law or Weiss' law exactly. The square root of susceptibility increases linearly with the percentage of iron atoms added. Thus the gold-iron series does not show the same property as the nickel-copper alloys whose susceptibility increases with temperature in certain ranges. The behavior of the iron atoms in the alloy and some correlations between magnetic susceptibility, density and melting point are discussed.