A survey on the effect of vanadium content on the magnetoelastic properties of YFe12−xVx alloys

Experimental results on the thermal expansion and magnetostriction of YFe_12−xV_x (1.5≤x≤3.5) alloys are reported. The results show that the anisotropic magnetostriction (Δλ) at a finite field (1.5 T) increases with increasing vanadium content in the range of x<2. But for x>2, a decrease in the magnetic anisotropy with increasing vanadium content causes a decrease in the saturation values of Δλ. In addition, the thermal expansion coefficient becomes a minimum for x≈2. Experimental curves exhibit that the forced volume magnetostriction (ΔV/V) is positive and increases linearly with the applied field at high fields. But in the low field region (≤0.5 T), a minimum appears in the isothermal curves of ΔV/V around the saturation field. The results are explained by considering the influence of vanadium content on the magnetization anisotropy of YFe_12−xV_x compounds.