Spontaneous volume magnetostriction of Dy2AlFe12Mn4 compound

The structure and magnetic properties of Dy2AlFe12Mn4 compound have been investigated by means of X-ray diffraction and magnetization measurements. The Dy2AlFe12Mn4 compound has a hexagonal Th2Ni17-type structure. Negative thermal expansion was found in Dy2AlFe12Mn4 compound from 229 to 280 K by X-ray dilatometry. The coefficient of the average thermal expansion is α¯=-3.8×10-5K-1. The magnetostrictive deformations from 105 to 270 K have been calculated by means of the differences between the experimental values of the lattice parameters and the corresponding values extrapolated from the paramagnetic range. The result shows that the spontaneous volume magnetostrictive deformation ωs decreases from 6.2 × 10−3 to near zero with the temperature increasing from 105 to 270 K, the spontaneous linear magnetostrictive deformation λc along the c axis is much larger than the spontaneous linear magnetostrictive deformation λa in basal-plane at the same temperature except close to 249 K.