Magnetic contribution to the specific heats of Gadolinium, Dysprosium, and Erbium

The magnetic contribution to the specific heats of the heavy rare earth metals gadolinium, dysprosium, and erbium have been evaluated by subtracting the lattice and the electronic contributions from the total specific heat data for these metals. The lattice heat capacity of these metals has been calculated using their respective frequency distribution functions obtained from a lattice dynamical model for hcp metals based on Keating's approach. The total energy of ordering W has been found for Gd, Dy, and Er from their respective magnetic specific heat curves. The total magnetic entropy gain has also been calculated for these three metals and compared with the respective theoretical values of Nk in(2 S + 1). © 1978 Plenum Publishing Corporation.