Magnetic properties of Fe–Cr–Mn–Si–based ferromagnetic shape memory ribbons

Abstract This paper presents measured properties of Fe–Cr–Mn–Si–based ferromagnetic shape memory ribbons. The alloys are multi-functional materials, which have both the ferromagnetic and shape memory properties. To improve ferromagnetic function, we investigated to add rare earth elements, and showed that the ferromagnetic functions can be improved by adding up to 1 wt% rare earth elements. The additions worked to shift the Curie point upward and to increase the residual saturation magnetization even after heat treatment. In this paper, to improve ductility of the samples, we made clear the effect of Ni addition. The result shows that addition of Ni over 1.2 wt% improves ductility; however, the Curie temperature is slightly decreased and the region of a ferromagnetic austenitic phase becomes narrower with increasing Ni contents.