Electron diffraction study of cobalt-rich Hf-Co

Intermetallic compounds having compositions from HfCo4 to HfCo8 were investigated by transmission electron microscopy, selected-area electron diffraction, and energy-dispersive x-ray spectroscopy. A major crystalline phase, closely related to the orthorhombic Zr2Co11 phase in structure, has been observed in the samples with the composition ranges from HfCo6 to HfCo8. The phase, referred to as either Hf2Co11 or HfCo7 phase in the literature, is actually one common phase, having a broad composition range and referred to as μ-phase in the present paper. In addition to the μ-phase, we have found coexisted fcc-Co phase and a minor Hf2Co7 phase. The Hf6Co23 phase has been identified in the HfCo4 and HfCo5 samples. Tilt-series electron diffraction revealed that the μ-phase is a one-dimensional incommensurate structure, which can be described approximately as B-centered orthorhombic with a = 0.47 nm, b = 0.82 nm, and c = 3.86 nm.