Magnetostriction of Fe–Sn polycrystalline alloys

In the present work we study the magnetostriction of Fe₉₁Sn₉ and Fe₈₀Sn₂₀ polycrystalline samples produced by arc melting and heat treated at temperatures of 1153 K for 6 h and 1023 K for 24 h, looking for high values of magnetostriction as in Fe–Ga alloys. Magnetostriction, as well as saturation magnetization measurements, was carried out at temperatures close to 203 K in the magnetic field interval 0 to 1.5 T. Results of magnetostriction on sample Fe₉₁Sn₉, which has almost pure -phase, show magnitude and behavior similar to pure Fe. The two additional Fe₈₀Sn₂₀ samples have a combination of -phase plus either Fe₅Sn₃ or Fe₃Sn₂ and show a peculiar behavior of the magnetostriction. For μ₀H<0.3 T the magnetostriction grows from zero to saturation of the -phase. Following, for μ₀H>0.3 T, the magnetostriction starts again to grow linearly with the field, but saturation was not observed up to 5 T. This behavior was attributed to the presence of Fe₅Sn₃ or Fe₃Sn₂ phases in these samples that are also ferromagnetic as the -phase is.