Structure-Magnetism Relations in Selected Iron-based Alloys : A New Base for Rare Earth Free Magnetic Materials

Abstract

Materials for energy applications are of great importance for a sustainable future society. Among these, stronger, lighter and more efficient magnetic materials will be able to aid mankind in many applications for energy conversion, for example generators for energy production, electric vehicles and magnetic refrigerators. Another requirement for the materials is that they should be made from cheap and abundant elements. For these reasons temperature induced magnetic transitions for three materials were studied in this work; one for permanent magnet applications and two magnetocaloric materials. Fe5SiB2 has a high Curie temperature and orders ferromagnetically at 760 K, providing possible application as a permanent magnet material. The ordering of the magnetic moments were studied and found to be aligned along the tetragonal c-axis and Fe5SiB2 undergoes a spin transition on cooling through a transition temperature (172 K), where the spins reorient along the a-axis in an easy plane. AlFe2B2 orders ferromagnetically at 285 K, making it a candidate for the active material in a magnetic refrigerator. The order of the magnetic transition has been studied as well as the magnetic structure. It was found that the magnetic moments are aligned along the crystallographic a-axis and that the magnetic transition is of second order. FeMnP0.75Si0.25 undergoes a first order magnetic transition around 200 K and the transition temperatures on cooling are different for the first cooling/heating cycle than for following cycles. This so called ”virgin effect” has been studied and found to originate from an irreversible structure change on the first cooling cycle through the ferromagnetic transition temperature