Muon hyperfine fields in iron and its dilute alloys

The temperature dependence of the interstitial magnetic field, B, as determined by the rotation of the spin of the muon, has been measured for dilute polycrystalline iron alloys with Mo, Ti, and Nb additions over a temperature range of 240 to 633 K. In all cases the behaviors differ from one another and from the Fe(Al) alloys previously studied. B, which is negative with respect to the magnetization, is increased in magnitude by Al and Mo, and decreased greatly by Ti. The addition of Nb creates a two-phase alloy from which the role of heterogeneity and/or strain on B in iron can be assessed. If the temperature dependence of the hyperfine field extracted from B for Fe(Mo) alloys is interpreted on the model previously used to discuss the Fe(Al) data, then the muon must be attracted to the Mo atom while repelled by the Al atoms as the temperature decreases.