Magnetic properties and shape memory effect of Fe-Cr-Ni-Si-Mn alloys produced by melt spinning technique

This paper presents new ferromagnetic shape memory alloys, which have been developed by means of the melt spinning technique. The alloys have both the shape memory property and the comparatively large saturation magnetization. The research has been started to make clear the influence of elements of Fe-Cr-Ni-Si-Mn alloys on magnetic properties and shape memory properties, and the role of each component has also been examined. After many measurements, we have sought out an alloy consisting of Fe-13%Cr-7%Ni-6%Si-6%Mn (wt.%), which exhibits saturation magnetization over 65.8 emu/g and perfect SME of 100%. Furthermore, to improve the ferromagnetic function, we have added rare-earth elements as an additional element. In this paper, the measured magnetic properties and the shape memory characteristics of the developed ferromagnetic shape memory alloys are discussed. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.