Abstract
A solid-state electro-transport method was used to purify erbium, increasing the residual resistance ratio of the metal from 4 to 46. It was observed that the migration of major impurities in erbium is directed toward the anode and that on environmental atmospheric pressure of the order of 10-10 Torr is required for impurity migration to occur. The electrical resistivity and magnetic transition temperature were measured with purified erbium samples, and the Néel temperature, the intermediate temperature, and the Curie temperature were found to be 88 K, 55 K and 19 K, respectively, for the purest specimen. Furthermore, a jump was found to occur in the resistivity curve at 27 K. The values of the above temperature veried from specimen to specimen.