Magnetostriction of 〈100〉 oriented Fe–Ga rods with large diameter

The Fe83Ga17 alloy rods with h100 i preferential orientation was prepared by directional solidification method.The dimension of oriented Fe83Ga17 rods is large up to 40 mm greater than diameter in previous investigations of3–10 mm.The growth direction of columnar grain is nearly parallel to the solidification direction of rods.The deviation angle between axial direction and h100 i direction of columnar crystal was investigated by method of electron backscattering diffraction, and the deviation is smaller than10°.The large columnar grain and h100 i preferential orientation along axial direction of rods could be attributed to the calm solid–liquid interface during solidification process that is difficultly formed due to electromagnetism agitation in induction heating zone-melting method.The corresponding magnetostriction is large up to 290 9 10-6under pre-compressive press of 15 MPa.