Short range ordering and magnetostriction in Fe-Ga and other Fe alloy single crystals

The magnetostrictive behaviors of Fe-Ga, Fe-Mo, Fe-W, and other Fe alloys have been observed to be sensitive to their thermal history. In this work, the changes in the structure with thermal history and how they correlate with the observed magnetostriction values in Fe-Ga, Fe-W, and Fe-Mo single crystals are examined. Single crystals were grown using the vertical Bridgman crystal growth technique. The magnetostriction constant (3/2)lambda(100) measured in (i) as-grown and air-cooled (DG) and (ii) annealed and water quenched single crystal samples of Fe-Ga and Fe-W alloys clearly indicate that annealing in the alpha-phase region followed by rapid quenching improves the magnetostriction values. High-resolution x-ray diffraction (XRD) studies on [100]-oriented Fe-Ga as well as other Fe alloy single crystals show (i) a diffuse scattering peak indicative of short range ordering, the extent of which depends on composition and thermal history, and (ii) (200) peak splitting and broadening indicative of the presence of long range ordered coherent second phases and associated coherency strains. A detailed examination of the XRD patterns suggests that the changes in magnetostriction with composition and thermal history are related to the local strain modulations associated with the solutes, short range order, long range ordered coherent second phases, incoherent precipitates, and other structural defects. (c) 2008 American Institute of Physics.