| The rare earth-free bcc FeGa-based alloys have an excellent combination of large low-field magnetostriction at room temperature, good mechanical properties, low hysteresis, and relatively low cost. These alloys are attractive for use in numerous sensor and actuator devices. The first part of this dissertation examines the influence of partial substitutions of Ga with Al, Be, Si, Ge, and Sn and partial substitutions of Fe with Co and Ni. The work involved directional growth of [001] textured rods of these ternary alloys using a Vertical Bridgman process, X-ray diffraction analysis, magnetic property measurements using vibrating sample magnetometry, and magnetostriction measurements. It is shown that substitution of Ga with Al can be made in FeGa alloys in certain composition ranges without a reduction in magnetostriction, and the additions of Si, Ge, and Sn results in a sharp decrease of magnetostriction. The addition or substitute of Be, due to its smaller size than Fe, resulted in only a slight decrease of magnetostriction. Substitution of Fe with Ni and Co results in a significant decrease of the magnetostriction. The work also evaluated the elastic properties of Fe-x at. % Ga and Fe-(20-y) at. % Ga-y at. % Al polycrystalline alloys using resonant ultrasound spectroscopy. Young's modulus obtained for FeGa and FeGaAl alloys were in the range of 110 to 170 GPa which are several times that for Terfenol-D alloys. Thus, large-force delivery is possible from FeGa alloy based actuators even though saturation strain values are smaller than that of Terfenol-D.; The second part of this work examined the development of an inexpensive thermomechanical processing method to obtain [001] textured polycrystalline Fe-15 at. % Ga alloys. The processing involved a sequence of controlled hot rolling, two-stage warm rolling with intermediate anneal, and texture anneal. Roll forces measured and the extent of reductions feasible indicated an excellent processability. Texture evolution during different stages of processing was examined using Orientation Imaging Microscopy to identify conditions that favor [001] texture development. The results indicate that addition of 1 mol.% NbC and controlled process conditions lead to a very strong [001] texture. |
