Single grain growth and large magnetostriction in secondarily recrystallized Fe-Ga thin sheet with sharp Goss (011)[100] orientation

Nearly single-grain-oriented Fe-Ga thin sheets with a sharp Goss (0 1 1)[1 0 0] orientation have been developed through rolling and annealing processes. Annealing of rolled samples at 1200 degrees C under a sulfur atmosphere produced abnormal Goss (0 1 1) grain growth, covering similar to 98% of the sample surface. Compared with previous results from anneals under argon, the sulfur anneal resulted in the acceleration of abnormal (0 1 1) grain growth and a similar to 79% increase in the observed magnetostriction, from 163 to 292 ppm, for the same anneal protocol. (C) 2011 Acta Materialia Inc. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.