Results of the electrical resistivity, magnetoresistance and specific heat measurements
are presented for Y1−xGdxCo2
in the vicinity of the critical Gd concentration xc ≈ 0.15 for
the onset of a long-range magnetic order. Pronounced maxima of the coefficient γ of the
T-linear specific heat,
Debye temperature and residual resistivity as a function of concentration are found to exist at
x = 0.1, i.e. just below
xc.
These anomalies, together with the existence of a minimum
on the temperature dependences of the electrical resistivity at
0 < x < 0.15,
are ascribed to the substantial influence of localized spin density fluctuations induced
by f–d exchange in the itinerant d-electron subsystem of Co. The maximal extra
contribution to the residual resistivity Δρresmax
in Y1−xRxCo2
pseudobinaries is found to depend on the critical concentration as well
as on the type of R ions, while the value of Δγmax depends
only on the critical concentration of R ions. The significant upturns on Cp/T
versus T2
dependences observed in Y1−xGdxCo2
at 0 < x < 0.15
may be indicative of a non-Fermi-liquid behaviour of the d-electron subsystem
caused by the partial substitution of Gd for Y.