Structure and magnetism of Fe-rich nanostructured Fe-Ni metastable solid solutions

New futures on the physical properties of ferromagnetic FeNi alloys have been found combining in situ neutron diffraction experiments and magnetic measurements in mechanical milled Fe-rich Fe-Ni metastable solid solutions. Apart from the well-known Invar effect, on heating these materials are characterised by the existence of a first-order martensite-austenite transformation that takes place at some system-dependent temperature. On cooling, the transformation occurs at a lower temperature than on heating; for Fe80Ni20 the size of the effect being larger than 100 °C, much more than the values found in conventional FeNi alloys. These results are discussed considering intrinsic features as magnetovolume effects and/or extrinsic effects such as small grain size and the existence of defects.