Science Daily May 12, 2021
Magnetostriction, which causes the buzz of fluorescent lights and electrical transformers, occurs when a change in the shape of the material causes a change in magnetic field. An international team of researchers (USA – University of Michigan, Cornell University, SUNY Buffalo, UC Berkeley, University of Wisconsin, Purdue University, Germany) has developed a material made of a combination of iron and gallium which has at least twice as magnetostrictive and far less costly than other materials in its class. By freezing the iron-gallium alloy and preventing it from forming an ordered structure they were able to double the amount of gallium in the material, netting a tenfold increase in magnetostriction compared to unmodified iron-gallium alloys. The magnetoelectric devices made in the study are several microns in size. Although device that uses the material is likely decades away they are working to find ways to shrink them to a more useful size…read more. Open Access TECHNICAL ARTICLE
Epitaxial stabilization of A2 Fe1−xGax on (001) PMN-PT. Credit: Nature Communications volume 12, Article number: 2757 (2021)Â