Electronic and structural properties of Fe3Pd–Pt ferromagnetic shape memory alloys

Ferromagnetic shape memory (FSM) alloys are scientifically and technologically interesting materials that combine ferromagnetism with a reversible martensitic phase transformation. Fe70Pd30 has recently been shown to display a FSM effect at usable temperatures and low fields. Reported here are results of experimental studies on Fe70Pd30 and electronic structure calculations on Fe70Pd30−xPtx. The calculations show that additions of Pt by 6 at % to Fe70Pd30 can triple the magnetocrystalline anisotropy. There is, however, a large discrepancy between the measured and calculated anisotropy values of Fe70Pd30, suggesting the presence of significant disorder in the measured samples. Other calculated structural and magnetic properties are in close agreement with experimental values.