Figures of merit of magnetostrictive single crystal iron–gallium alloys for actuator and sensor applications

Energy density, magnetomechanical coupling factor and a dimensionless sensing gage factor of 〈1 0 0〉 oriented single crystal iron–gallium alloys with 16, 17.5, 19, 24.7 and 29 at% gallium were studied as functions of stress and magnetic field. To estimate these quantities, the samples were characterized under different quasi-static stress and magnetic field conditions. The experimental behavior was modeled using an energy-based non-linear approach. Both the experimental data and the model simulations were used to calculate material parameters such as magnetic permeability, piezo-magnetic strain coefficient (d33), inverse piezo-magnetic coefficient (stress sensitivity, d*33) and Young's modulus in the material. These quantities were used to obtain energy density, magnetomechanical coupling factor and sensing gage factor as functions of magnetomechanical conditions. Maximum energy density of around 3 kJ/m3, magnetomechanical coupling factor higher than 0.75 and sensing gage factor on the order of 103 were calculated.