  The mechanical and magnetic properties of the newly discovered MAB-phase
class of materials based upon AlFe2B2 were investigated. The samples were
synthesised from stoichiometric amounts of all constituent elements. X-ray
diffraction shows that the main phase is orthorhombic with an elongated b-axis,
similar to AlFe2B2. The low hardness and visual inspection of the samples after
deformation indicate that these compounds are deformed via a delamination
process. When substituting iron in AlFe2B2 with manganese, the magnetism in the
system goes from being ferro- to antiferromagnetic via a disordered
ferrimagnetic phase exhibited by AlFeMnB2. Density functional theory
calculations indicate a weakening of the magnetic interactions among the
transitions metal ions as iron is substituted by manganese in AlFe2B2. The
Mn-Mn exchange interactions in AlMn2 B2 are found to be very small.
