Xiaolian Liu

Highly thermal-stable ferromagnetism by a natural composite

All ferromagnetic materials show deterioration of magnetism-related properties such as magnetization and magnetostriction with increasing temperature, as the result of gradual loss of magnetic order with approaching Curie temperature TC. However, technologically, it is highly desired to find a magnetic material that can resist such magnetism deterioration and maintain stable magnetism up to its TC, but this seems against the conventional wisdom about ferromagnetism. Here we show that a Fe–Ga alloy exhibits highly thermal-stable magnetization up to the vicinity of its TC, 880 K. Also, the magnetostriction shows nearly no deterioration over a very wide temperature range. Such unusual behaviour stems from dual-magnetic-phase nature of this alloy, in which a gradual structural-magnetic transformation occurs between two magnetic phases so that the magnetism deterioration is compensated by the growth of the ferromagnetic phase with larger magnetization. Our finding may help to develop highly thermal-stable ferromagnetic and magnetostrictive materials.

Tailoring magnetostriction sign of ferromagnetic composite by increasing magnetic field strength

The unitary deformation of single-phase ferromagnets by a magnetic field, i.e., either positive or negative linear magnetostriction, allows only monotonous control. Here we report a proof-of-principle ferromagnetic composite Fe73Ga27, for which the magnetostriction sign changes from positive to negative by increasing the magnetic field strength. Based on the transformation from body-centered-cubic (BCC) to face-centered-cubic (FCC) phases in this binary system, Fe73Ga27 composite is prepared by aging the BCC averaged precursor for 3 days at 803 K. Magnetic measurements indicate that the BCC phase exhibits smaller magnetocrystalline anisotropy constant than the FCC phase. The offset effect between BCC and FCC phases produces positive net magnetostriction at low magnetic fields but negative net magnetostriction at high magnetic fields. By tuning the field strength, such composites can mediate compressive and tensile strains to other functional materials, e.g., piezoelectric material or optic-fibers, which i...

Coercivity enhancements of Nd–Fe–B sintered magnets by diffusing DyHx along different axes

Diffusing heavy rare earth elements along the grain boundaries (GBs) for Nd2Fe14B-type sintered magnets serves as an effective method to enhance coercivity and to minimize remanence loss simultaneously. Considering the texture anisotropy of Nd-rich GB phases, the coercivity incremental difference by diffusing DyHx fine powders along or perpendicular to the easy axis (c-axis) has been investigated. The coercivity increases more rapidly to 20.61 kOe (5.76 kOe higher than that of the as-sintered state) when diffusing along the c-axis than that diffusing perpendicular to c-axis (18.85 kOe, 4.00 kOe higher than the as-sintered state). Microstructural investigation reveals that Dy diffuses more easily towards the magnet inner part when treating along the c-axis than that for the perpendicular case due to the anisotropic distribution of the Nd-rich phase. This is verified by a higher Dy content at equivalent diffusing depth and a much deeper final diffusion distance. The local Dy-containing fractions with a stronger anisotropy field are richer for the magnet treated along the c-axis, leading to the much rapider coercivity enhancement. This work reveals that diffusion heavy rare earth along the c-axis is more effective to enhance coercivity for aligned Nd–Fe–B sintered magnets.

Local rhombohedral symmetry in Tb0.3Dy0.7Fe2 near the morphotropic phase boundary

The recently reported morphotropic phase boundary (MPB) in a number of giant magnetostrictive materials (GMMs) has drawn considerable interest to the local symmetry/structure near MPB region of these materials. In this letter, by in-situ X-ray diffraction and AC magnetic susceptibility measurements, we show that Tb0.3Dy0.7Fe2, the typical composition of Terfenol-D GMMs, has coexistence of rhombohedral and tetragonal phases over a wide temperature range in the vicinity of MPB. High resolution transmission electron microscopy provides direct evidence for local rhombohedral symmetry of the ferromagnetic phase and reveals regular-shaped nanoscale domains below 10 nm. The nano-sized structural/magnetic domains are hierarchically inside a single micron-sized stripe-like domain with the same average magnetization direction. Such domain structures are consistent with the low magnetocrystalline anisotropy and easy magnetic/structural domain switching under magnetic field, thus generating large magnetostriction at ...

Suppression of martensitic transformation in Fe50Mn23Ga27 by local symmetry breaking

Defects-induced local symmetry breaking has led to unusual properties in nonferromagnetic ferroelastic materials upon suppressing their martensitic transformation. Thus, it is of interest to discover additional properties by local symmetry breaking in one important class of the ferroelastic materials, i.e., the ferromagnetic shape memory alloys. In this letter, it is found that local symmetry breaking including both tetragonal nano-inclusions and anti-phase boundaries (APBs), suppresses martensitic transformation of a body-centered-cubic Fe50Mn23Ga27 alloy, however, does not affect the magnetic ordering. Large electrical resistivity is retained to the low temperature ferromagnetic state, behaving like a half-metal ferromagnet. Lower ordering degree at APBs and local stress fields generated by the lattice expansion of tetragonal nanoparticles hinder the formation of long-range-ordered martensites. The half-metal-like conducting behavior upon suppressing martensitic transformation extends the regime of ferr...