High performance giant magnetostrictive alloy with (1 10) crystal orientation

High magnetostrictive strains have been obtained in Th0.29Dy0.61Pr0.1Fe1.97Be0.05 polycrystalline samples with (1 10) crystal orientation. The lambda40 and lambda80 values are 1380 and 1560 ppm respectively under a pressure of 6 MPa, which is better than that of samples with (1 12) crystal orientation. The observed morphologies indicate that the grains with (1 10) axial orientation grow in the form of sheet-like cellular crystals. A rare-earth rich phase (R: Th, Dy), is distributed along the boundaries of the cellular crystals. The excellent magnetostrictive properties originate from the matrix RFe2 phase and are related to texture.