Large magnetostriction from morphotropic phase boundary in ferromagnets.
For more than half of a century, morphotropic phase boundary (MPB) in ferroelectric materials has drawn constant interest because it can significantly enhance the piezoelectric properties. However, MPB has been studied merely in ferroelectric systems, not in another large class of ferroic systems, the ferromagnets. In this Letter, we report the existence of an MPB in a ferromagnetic system TbCo2-DyCo2. Such a magnetic MPB involves a first-order magnetoelastic transition, at which both magnetization direction and crystal structure change simultaneously. The MPB composition demonstrates a 3-6 times larger "figure of merit" of magnetostrictive response compared with that of the off-MPB compositions. The finding of MPB in ferromagnets may help to discover novel high-performance magnetostrictive and even magnetoelectric materials.
Yang
Sen
S
Multi-disciplinary Materials Research Center, Frontier Institute of Science and Technology, State Key Laboratory for Mechanical Behavior of Materials, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an 710049, China.
Bao
Huixin
H
Zhou
Chao
C
Wang
Yu
Y
Ren
Xiaobing
X
Matsushita
Yoshitaka
Y
Katsuya
Yoshio
Y
Tanaka
Masahiko
M
Kobayashi
Keisuke
K
Song
Xiaoping
X
Gao
Jianrong
J