Effect of cerium on structure, magnetism and magnetostriction of Fe81Ga19 alloy

FeGa alloy is a new kind of magnetostrictive material, and rare-earth cerium can improve its magnetostrictive property. (Fe81Ga19)(100-chi)Ce-chi (chi = 0, 0.3 at%, 0.7 at%, 1 at%) samples were prepared by doping cerium in Fe81Ga19 alloy. Their microstructures and phases were studied, and valence electronic structures were investigated. Electromagnetic parameters, such as coercivity, saturation magnetization, remnant magnetization and saturation magnetostrictive coefficients (lambda(s)) of every sample were measured. Cerium atoms are distributed at grain boundaries, and the Ce-doped alloys remain the A2 structure of FeGa alloy. When chi is 0.7, the value of saturation magnetism is 217.08 emu/g, which is the maximum in the Ce-doped samples. The equivalent half length of single bond is the maximum also, and reaches to 0.11380 nm. At the same time, the number of covalent electrons is 3.5672, and is the minimum of the Cedoped samples. Its lambda(s) is the largest in the four samples. The change of lambda(s) results in the change of equivalent half length of single bond in Ce-doped alloy. (C)2018 Chinese Society of Rare Earths. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.