9305782 Yelon This research explores high performance rare earth/iron-based magnets. Systematic changes in compositions are explored, band structure calculations made, and neutron diffraction used to determine atomic site preferences. A comprehensive study of site substitution in two types of magnetic structures are examined, R2Fe17 and RFe12-xTMx, where R refers to the rare earth elements and TM to the transition metals. The materials are synthesized, with first and second transition row elements along with Al, Si, Ga and Ge with an aim of optimizing average bond lengths. Properties are characterized by bulk magnetic measurements and structure by X-ray and neutron diffraction. In selected cases band calculations are carried out. %%% The ultimate goal is to determine new compositions for these materials that display superior magnetic properties for use in a variety of applications. ***
