Beneficial effect of boron on the structural and magnetostrictive behavior of Fe77Ga23 alloy

Alloys of Fe77Ga23Bx (x=0, 0.025, 0.050, 0.075 and 0.1) were heat treated at 1000 °C/10 h and characterized for microstructural features and magnetostriction. The study indicates that the parent alloy consists of three phases viz. A2 as the major phase and L12 and DO3 as minor phases. However, the volume fraction of L12 and DO3 decreases with B addition and as a result magnetostriction improves. The decrease in volume fraction of these phases is attributed to B-segregation to the grain boundary, which seems to prevent the formation of these phases. The alloy with x=0.1, however, exhibits an additional Fe2B phase and consequently its presence leads to the re-emergence of the DO3 phase, affecting the magnetostriction.