Grain orientation dependence of ΔE effect and magnetomechanical coupling factor in polycrystalline Galfenol alloy

The ΔE effect of Galfenol single crystal is anisotropic and symmetric. The magnetomechanical behavior of polycrystalline Fe-Ga alloy was found to be dependent on the grain distribution. An energy-based model was used to simulate the effect of grain distribution on ΔE effect and coupling factor of the polycrystalline Galfenol alloy. Seven types of textured Fe84Ga16 alloys each with 95, 75 and 50 vol% textured grains were designed by the MTEX toolbox. The alloys having the same preferred orientation show a similar ΔE effect and coupling factor variation with the stress and magnetic field. Different preferred oriented alloys have great difference in the ΔE effect and coupling factor variation. The effect of texture intensity on the ΔE effect and coupling factor depends on the texture types. The 〈100〉 oriented alloys with fiber texture, Goss texture and cube texture respectively have a similar large ΔE effect. The texture intensity has a relatively small effect on the ΔE effect and coupling factor k of 〈100〉 oriented alloys. Compared with 〈100〉 oriented alloys, the 〈110〉 and 〈112〉 oriented alloys have much smaller ΔE effect and coupling factor. The ΔE effect and coupling factor variation with stress and magnetic field of those two kinds of textured alloys is much more complex than that of 〈100〉 textured alloys.