Sohd State Communicatlons, Vol. 90, No. 2, pp. 109-113, 1994 Elsevier Science Ltd Printed in Great Britain. All rights reserved 0038-1098(94)E0128-X 0038-1098/94 $6.00+.00 THE INFLUENCE OF NITROGEN ON THE PARAMAGNETIC PROPERTIES OF THE MULTICOMPONENT d-ELEMENT IRON-BASED ALLOY B.D. Shanina*, S.P. Kolesnik ~, A.A. Konchytz j, V.G. Gavriljuk**, Smouk S.Yu.**A.V. Tarasenko t* * Institute of Semiconductors, Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Kiev, Ukrmne ** Institute of Metal Physics, Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Kiev, Ukraine (Recexved June 16th, 1993; in rewsed form Febr. 3rd, 1994 by P.H. Oederlchs) The influence of the nonmagnetic interstttial solute (mtrogen) on the paramagnetic properties of the multicomponent iron-based alloy was studied. The spin resonance measurements have shown that the increase of the Mn content in the austenitic alloy leads to a decrease of the electron state density on the Fermi surface, D r up to two orders of magnitude and to the large shift of the g-factor, Ag > 0 The character of the temperature dependence of the g- factor gives an evidence for clustenzation of the d-element atoms with ferromagnetic interaction The increase of the state density on the Fermi surface as the interstitial solute content grows was confirmed for nitrogen concentrations 1% < CN < 1 5% and it was found that D r decreases smoothly at the nitrogen contents CN > 1.5% It was found that nitrogen content affects the process of formation of the d-element clusters as well. Hay~eHo B.rlaaHHe rteMarHr~THO~ HpHMeCH BHe~pel-ma (aJoTa) Ha rlapa.Mai'HtlTr~bie CBOfiCTBa MHOFOKOMHOHeHTHOF0 cnaaBa Ha OCHOBe ~e ne Ja . I/IJMepeHH~ CHHHOBOFO peJoHaHca noKaJa~H, qTO B aycTeh~THOM cHaaBe yBe~eaHe KOHIIeHTpaHHH Mn Be~eT K yMeHbnJeHhqO IIJIOTHOCTH 3BeKTpOHHbIX COCTO~Ilfl4fflHa HoBepXHOCTH ~ e p M a Ha ~Ba nopa~a, a waK~e ~ 60~bmoMy c~Bmv g-qbaKwopa Ag>0. PIJMeHeHae g-qbaKropa c pOCTOM re~nepaTypbt cBH~eTe~c~yew o ~acwepaJauaH d-aneMenToB C qbeppoMarHnrHb~M BJaHMo~e~CTBne~. Ho~ep~eno yBezH~eH~e HZOrHOCra COCTOaHa~ na noeepx~oc~ ~ep~a D F c pOCTOM KOHlleHTpal~HH aJoTa B O6JIaCTH KOHHetlTpal~Hffl 1 ~ < C N < 1.5~ H o6aapy~euo, aro D F MOHOTOHHO yMeHbmaeTca npa co~ep~a~ax aaoxa C~ > 1 5%. O6uapy~eao Ta.Kx~e B~H~HHe KOHIteHTpaJ.LHH a3oTa Ha HpoLteCC o6pa3OBaHH~ KJIaCTepoB d-3.HeMeHTOB. 1. Introduction Multicomponent substitutional solid solutions on the basis of iron (for example, Fe-Cr-Ni) are the main constituent of a large group of stainless steels and alloys The problem of their strengthening is solved due to alloying by carbon or nitrogen forming interstitial solid solutions At some similarity (for instance, the same concentration dependence of the lattice parameter in binary alloys Fe-C and Fe-N) these solutes affect in different, often even opposite way many physical and chemical properties of the FCC iron-based solid solution (austenite). Particularly, carbon decreases while nitrogen increases the thermodynamic stability of the alloyed austenite [1,2] Carbon also decreases corrosion resistance of austenitic steels while nitrogen increases it, especially effectively for different kinds of local corrosion (see, for example, [3]) A nature of such a difference in properties of multicomponent iron-based solid solutions alloyed by nitrogen or carbon has probably to be searched in different chemical interaction of atoms of these nonmagnetic interstitial solutes with atoms of d-metals constituting the host lattice The useful information about state of conduction electrons in above alloys can be provided by the method of the electron spin resonance (ESR) In [4,5] we have shown that the high density of d- electrons and, at the same time, the high electroresistivity of 109 the alloy relatively easily enables to find the optimal values of the specimen thickness and the temperature range, where the ESR signals are sufficient for detecting This circumstance provides to get an information about changes of the electron state density on the Fermi surface, interaction of the conduction electrons with the localized spins and about the correlation in distribution of interstitial solutes (N, C) and substitutional alloy component The austenitic alloy Fe-20Cr-16Ni-6Mn (A1) doped with different carbon and mtrogen content was studied for the first time in [4] The procedure of determination of the electron state density on the Fermi surface, DF, and its dependence on the alloying element concentration was elaborated in [5] using the temperature dependence of the ESR signal parameters The aim of this study is to clarify influence of Mn, as one of the main alloy components, on D F and on the homogeneity of distribution of the constituent alloy components To expand the range of the studied concentration of alloying elements and to check a conclusion about increasing D F as the nitrogen concentration grows, made in [4,5], were another objectives of this work 2. Experimental The stable austenitic steel Fe-18Cr-16Ni-10Mn