Study of the magnetoelastic phase transition in near equiatomic FeRh alloys through T-FORC analysis and neutron diffraction

K. Padrón-Alemán, M. Rivas, J. C. Martínez-García, P. Álvarez-Alonso, P. Gorria, J. H. Belo, A. M. dos Santos, J. L.Sánchez Llamazares

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Abstract

Fe100-xRhx alloys with x ∼ 50 undergo a first-order magnetoelastic phase transition close to room temperature from the low-temperature antiferromagnetic (AFM) to the high-temperature ferromagnetic (FM) state. For Fe50Rh50, the AFM-FM-AFM transitions may occur involving various coexistent mechanisms. Although the Fe49Rh51 composition closely resembles the equiatomic counterpart, its first-order phase transition exhibits notable disparities, whose underlying process remains unexplained. We combined neutron thermo-diffraction and magnetization measurements to study the phase transformation in the two alloys. The Kolmogorov-Johnson-Mehl-Avrami (KJMA) model and temperature first-order reversal curve (T-FORC) analysis are applied to explore this matter. The techniques were applied to both alloys, Fe50Rh50 and Fe49Rh51, to use the former as reference to emphasize the distinct characteristics of the latter. The study highlights the defect-based growth hindering in Fe50Rh50 and the almost complete absence of it in Fe49Rh51, accompanied by a significant effect of the FM phase magnetostatic field. This work presents a new way to obtain detailed information from the T-FORCs by analyzing their T-derivative curves. This method indicates that the superposition of applied and magnetostatic fields causes the notable differences observed in alloys with such close atomic composition. It reveals and explains peculiar features of the Fe49Rh51 temperature-driven transition, such as the anomalous cross-over of the first-order reversal magnetization curves at low temperatures, that could pave the way to a deeper understanding of the mechanisms driving the magnetostructural phase transition in these alloys.

Original languageEnglish
Article number177876
JournalJournal of Alloys and Compounds
Volume1010
DOIs
StatePublished - Jan 5 2025

Funding

The authors dedicate this work to Professor K.H.J. Buschow, an outstanding scientist and a leader in the magnetic materials and magnetism scientific community for over six decades. His pioneering work on synthesizing and studying an extensive list of ferromagnetic materials strongly influenced the scientific and academic careers of those like us, who started the way to become scientists in the Physics of Magnetism and Magnetic Materials in the last 40 years. Thanks to his long-lasting contributions, people like us will inspirely continue the never-ending investigation into the Physics of Magnetism and Magnetic Materials. Work partially supported by the following projects: (a) PTDC/EMETED/3099/2020, UIDP/04968/2020-Program\u00E1tico, UIDB/04968/2020, NECL-NORTE-010145-FEDER-022096 from Funda\u00E7\u00E3o para a Ci\u00EAncia e Tecnologia (FCT), Portugal; (b) PID2022\u2013138256NB-C21, from Spanish MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and ERDF, UE, and AYUD/2021/51822 from the Asturian government, and; CF-2023-I-2143 from CONAHCYT, Mexico. J.L. S\u00E1nchez Llamazares acknowledges the support received from Laboratorio Nacional de Nanociencias y Nanotecnolog\u00EDa (LINAN, IPICyT), and also the European Union-NextGenerationEU, and Spanish Ministerio de Universidades and Plan de Recuperaci\u00F3n, Transformaci\u00F3n y Resiliencia, in the framework of the Maria Zambrano program of the University of Oviedo, Asturias, Spain (Reference: MU-21-UP2021\u2013030 71741542; that made possible his 2023\u20132022 sabbatical stay at Uniovi when this investigation started). K. Padr\u00F3n-Alem\u00E1n acknowledges the Institute Laue-Langevin for his PhD/CFR contract (Reference: ESP-5\u20132023). J.H. Belo also sincerely acknowledges Fullbright Portugal for the Fulbright Visiting Scholar grant and FCT for his contract DL57/2016 reference SFRH-BPD-87430/2012. A portion of this research used resources at the Spallation Neutron Source, a DOE Office of Science User Facility operated by the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. This project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon Europe research and innovation programme through the European Innovation Council under the grant agreement No. 101161135 \u2014 MAGCCINE. Work partially supported by the following projects: (a) PTDC/EMETED/3099/2020, UIDP/04968/2020-Program\u00E1tico, UIDB/04968/2020, NECL-NORTE-010145-FEDER-022096 from Funda\u00E7\u00E3o para a Ci\u00EAncia e Tecnologia (FCT), Portugal; (b) PID2022-138256NB-C21, from Spanish MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and ERDF, UE, and AYUD/2021/51822 from the Asturian government, and; CF-2023-I-2143 from CONAHCYT, Mexico. J.L. S\u00E1nchez Llamazares acknowledges the support received from Laboratorio Nacional de Nanociencias y Nanotecnolog\u00EDa (LINAN, IPICyT), and also the European Union-NextGenerationEU, and Spanish Ministerio de Universidades and Plan de Recuperaci\u00F3n, Transformaci\u00F3n y Resiliencia, in the framework of the Maria Zambrano program of the University of Oviedo, Asturias, Spain (Reference: MU-21-UP2021-030 71741542; that made possible his 2023-2022 sabbatical stay at Uniovi when this investigation started). K. Padr\u00F3n-Alem\u00E1n acknowledges the Institute Laue-Langevin for his PhD/CFR contract (Reference: ESP-5-2023). J.H. Belo also sincerely acknowledges Fullbright Portugal for the Fulbright Visiting Scholar grant and FCT for his contract DL57/2016 reference SFRH-BPD-87430/2012. A portion of this research used resources at the Spallation Neutron Source, a DOE Office of Science User Facility operated by the Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

Keywords

  • Fe-Rh alloys
  • First-order magnetoelastic phase transition
  • Temperature first-order reversal curves
  • Thermal hysteresis

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