640 CD DOI: 10.

1017/S1431927607076398

Microsc Microanal 13(Suppl 2), 2007 Copyright 2007 Microscopy Society of America

Investigating Nano-dispersed DO3 Structures in Galfenol Alloy

Somnath Bhattacharyya*, J. R. Jinschek*,** and D. Viehland* *Department of Materials Science and Engineering and **Institute for Critical Technology and Applied Science, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA 24060, U.S.A Giant magnetostriction in Galfenol Fe-x% Ga (15<x<27at%) alloys offers great potential for future generations of sensors and actuators [1]. The maximum in the magnetostrictive strain is found at a Ga content of x 19, which is ten times higher compared to pure -Fe. Galfenol also offers a unique combination of additional advantageous properties such as high mechanical strength, good ductility, high imposed blocking stress, and exceptional weak-field properties at moderate saturation fields [2, 3]. It is believed that the giant magnetostriction is caused by a structural change on the nanometer scale. Due to phase transformation and diffusion, nanocrystals (size ~ 1-5 nm) with the ordered superstructure DO3 and with lower Ga content (Fe3Ga) are embedded in an A2 matrix [4]. The few nanometer wide bright regions in the darkfield image (Fig. 1) could be either DO3 or B2, however, the B2 order is stable only at high temperature and thus can be excluded. In this present work, Fe-19% Ga alloy has been examined on the nanometer scale using conventional and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM). To the best of our knowledge, this represents the first investigation on the nanoscale of the DO3 nano-dispersion within the A2 matrix in Galfenol. The HRTEM lattice image in [001] projection and the corresponding power spectrum (intensity distribution of FFT) are shown in Fig. 2. The weak {010} superlattice reflections and the spot splitting in {220} indicate the presence of DO3 nanostructures because of the difference in crystal structure and in lattice parameters between DO3 and A2 [5]. By Fourier filtering including only weak {010} and only strong {110} reflections (indicated in power spectrum in Fig. 2), inverse Fourier transformations were calculated separately and presented in Figs. 3a and 3b, respectively. While DO3 nanostructure contains line defects (Fig. 3a), there is no indication of defects in the A2 matrix (Fig. 3b). Multislice simulation was performed using the crystal structure of DO3 in Fe-Ga alloys [5]. The experimental image has been compared with simulated images using 2 method. The best fit (lowest 2 value) is shown in Fig. 4a. It can be concluded that the black features in this image represent the projections of columns that contain only Fe atoms while bright features that of columns containing Fe and Ga atoms. By comparison of the atomic projection of DO3 structure in [001] direction (Fig. 4b) with the IFFT in Fig. 4a, the position of the extra half planes can be identified as {400} planes. The determined in-plane Burgers vector of the dislocation is a / 2 <110>, where a represents the lattice parameter of DO3. References: [1] G. Engdhal (Ed.), Handbook of Giant Magnetostictive Materials, Academic, San Diego, (2000). [2] A.E. Clark et al., IEEE Trans. Magn., 36 (2000) 3238. [3] S. Guruswamy et al., Scripta mater., 43 (2000) 239. [4] O. Ikeda et al., J. Alloy. Comp. 347 (2002) 198. [5] T. A. Lograsso et al., J. Alloy. Comp. 350 (2003) 95.

Microsc Microanal 13(Suppl 2), 2007

641 CD

[6] This work was supported by the Office of Naval Research through MURI N00014-06-1-0530, and N00014-06-1-0204. The authors are thankful to Hu Cao for sample preparation.

Fig. 1 Dark-field image of Fe-19% Ga taken in [001] zone axis orientation; upper right corner: corresponding diffraction pattern. Dark-field image (formed by selecting a weak {010} DO3 superlattice reflection) shows the embedded DO3 nanostructures a)

Fig. 2 High-resolution lattice image taken in [001] zone axis orientation; inset: power spectrum where solid circles show {110} reflections, dotted circles show {010} DO3 superlattice reflections and dotted lines show spot splitting in {220} reflections. b)

Fig. 3. Inverse FFT of the image in Fig.2 (a) by only including contribution from weak {010} spots (DO3). (Dotted box shows the Burgers circuit and the arrow indicates the Burgers vector.) and (b) by only including strong {110} spots (A2). a) b)

Fig. 4. (a) Simulated image (with calibration 1 pixel= .02 nm) at thickness of 1.50.5 unit cell and defocus of -120 nm with atom overlay. Blue and red circles represent Fe and Ga atoms, respectively (b) Projection of this crystal structure in [001] projection where light and dark colored spheres represent Fe and Ga atoms, respectively.