Temperature-dependent magnetism in Fe foams via spin-lattice dynamics

Abstract

Spin-lattice dynamics is used to study the magnetic properties of Fe foams. The temperature dependence of the magnetization in foams is determined as a function of the fraction of surface atoms in foams, nsurf. The Curie temperature of foams decreases approximately linearly with nsurf, while the critical exponent of the magnetization increases considerably more strongly. If the data are plotted as a function of the fraction of surface atoms, reasonable agreement with recent data on vacancy-filled Fe crystals and novel data on void-filled crystals is observed for the critical temperature. Critical temperature and critical exponent also depend on the coordination of surface atoms. Although the decrease we find is relatively small, it hints to the possibility of improved usage of topology to taylor magnetic properties.