Computational screening of Fe-Ta hard magnetic phases

Abstract

In this work we perform a systematic calculation of the Fe-Ta phase diagram to discover novel hard magnetic phases. By using structure prediction methods based on evolutionary algorithms, we identify two new energetically stable magnetic structures: a tetragonal Fe$_3$Ta (space group 122) and cubic Fe$_5$Ta (space group 216) binary phases. The tetragonal structure is estimated to have both high saturation magnetization ($\mu_0$M$_s$=1.14 T) and magnetocrystalline anisotropy (K$_1$=2.17 MJ/m$^3$) suitable for permanent magnet applications. The high-throughput screening of magneto-crystalline anisotropy also reveals two low energy metastable hard magnetic phases: Fe$_5$Ta$_2$ (space group 156) and Fe$_{6}$Ta (space group 194), that may exhibit intrinsic magnetic properties comparable to SmCo$_5$ and Nd$_2$Fe$_{14}$B, respectively.