Ductility enhancement and magnetostriction of polycrystalline Fe–Ga based alloys

The small additions of B and Cr can improve the room temperature ductility of Fe–Ga alloy. The (Fe81Ga19)99.5B0.5 sheets with thickness of 0.13–0.33 mm were prepared by conventional rolling process and their magnetostriction property were investigated. Results demonstrated that under the same heat treatment, the magnetostriction of (Fe81Ga19)99.5B0.5 sheets increased with the decrease of deformation amount. The 0.33-mm-thick sheets have the peak magnetostrictive value of 129, 136 and 165 ppm obtained at annealing condition of 1100, 1200 and 1300 °C for 2 h, respectively. Magnetostriction of (Fe81Ga19)99.5B0.5 annealed sheets was closely related to the recrystallization texture which depends on heat treatment process. The sheets with {1 0 0}〈0 1 2〉 texture exhibited higher magnetostrictive property than other sheets with {1 1 1}〈1 1 0〉 or {1 1 1}〈 1 12 〉 texture.