Beneficial effect of boron on the structural and magnetostrictive behavior of Fe77Ga23 alloy

Abstract Alloys of Fe 77 Ga 23 B x ( x =0, 0.025, 0.050, 0.075 and 0.1) were heat treated at 1000 °C/10 h and characterized for microstructural features and magnetostriction. The study indicates that the parent alloy consists of three phases viz. A2 as the major phase and L1 2 and DO 3 as minor phases. However, the volume fraction of L1 2 and DO 3 decreases with B addition and as a result magnetostriction improves. The decrease in volume fraction of these phases is attributed to B-segregation to the grain boundary, which seems to prevent the formation of these phases. The alloy with x =0.1, however, exhibits an additional Fe 2 B phase and consequently its presence leads to the re-emergence of the DO 3 phase, affecting the magnetostriction.