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Investigating non-Joulian magnetostriction

Nature volume 556, pages E5–E7 (2018)Cite this article

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ARISING FROM H. D. Chopra & M. Wuttig Nature 521, 340–343 (2015); doi:https://doi.org/10.1038/nature14459

Ferromagnetic materials change their shape under an applied magnetic field—a phenomenon known as magnetostriction. This phenomenon was first described for iron by Joule in 1842, and is generally believed to be volume-conserving. We therefore read with interest the Letter by Chopra and Wuttig1, which reports that samples of Fe100−x–Gax (galfenol) crystals demonstrate “giant” non-volume-conserving (non-Joulian) magnetostriction, and embarked on an extensive study of crystals of similar compositions, dimensions and heat treatments, using strain gauges and capacitive dilatometry to measure magnetostriction for many different combinations of strain direction and applied magnetic field. In every case, we found that the volume was conserved within experimental error, and so we conclude that magnetostriction in galfenol can generally be regarded as Joulian.

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Figure 1: Magnetostriction and magnetization of Fe83Ga17 single crystals.

References

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Materials Science and Engineering, Beihang University, Beijing, 100191, China

    Yangkun He, Yongjun Han, J. M. D. Coey, Chengbao Jiang & Huibin Xu

  2. School of Physics and AMBER, Trinity College, Dublin 2, Ireland

    Yangkun He, P. Stamenov & J. M. D. Coey

  3. IPCMS, University of Strasbourg, Strasbourg, 67034, France

    B. Kundys

Authors
  1. Yangkun He
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  2. Yongjun Han
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  3. P. Stamenov
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  4. B. Kundys
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  5. J. M. D. Coey
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  6. Chengbao Jiang
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  7. Huibin Xu
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Contributions

C.J., J.M.D.C. and H.X. designed the experiment. Y. Han and Y. He grew the single crystals. Y. He, P.S. and B.K. conducted the magnetostriction measurements. Y. He, J.M.D.C., P.S. and C.J. analysed the data and wrote the paper. All authors discussed the results.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Chengbao Jiang.

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The authors declare no competing financial interests.

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He, Y., Han, Y., Stamenov, P. et al. Investigating non-Joulian magnetostriction. Nature 556, E5–E7 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature25780

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