ELECTRICAL RESISTIVITIES OF RARE EARTH SOLUTES IN LIQUID INDIUM AND TIN

Abstract
The residual resistivities of rare earth solutes in liquid In and Sn increase gradually from La to Nd, peak at Nd and decrease gradually from Nd to Yb. Since the conduction electrons of simple liquid metals may be treated as nearly free electrons, the residual resistivity consists of two terms ; the first due to the impurity potential and the second due to the spin scattering. The spin scattering term has a maximum at Gd. The trend of residual resistivities in liquid In and Sn does not agree with the calculated values of spin scattering. Therefore, it seems that the impurity potential is a major term and the spin scattering is a minor term in liquid In and Sn.