Magnetostriction and microstructure of copper mold casted <110> oriented Fe-Ga alloy

Rapid solidification rods with a grain texture oriented toward the radial direction of the Fe82Ga18 alloy were prepared by induced melting and copper mold casting under the protection of inert gases. The<110> preferred orientation texture along the axial direction of the rod was detected from XRD. A saturation magnetostriction value of 92×10⁻⁶ was obtained for as-cast Fe-Ga alloy rods. The microstructure and magnetostriction properties of Fe-Ga alloys were systematically analyzed under different heat treatment conditions. Results indicated that the large magnetostriction of the Fe82Ga18 alloy attributed to the rapid solidification disorded A2 phase and the high concentration of short range order of Ga atom clusters created by rapid solidification and their arranged in the <100> direction. Ordered D03 phase is not conducive to the magnetostriction.