Giant isotropic magnetostriction of itinerant-electron metamagnetic La(Fe0.88Si0.12)13Hy compounds

Abstract

La(Fe x Si 1−x ) 13 compounds exhibit an itinerant-electron metamagnetic (IEM) transition above Curie temperature TC. The IEM transition in the compound with x=0.88 is accompanied by a giant volume change. From a practical viewpoint, TC was controlled by hydrogen absorption in order to obtain such a giant volume magnetostriction at room temperature. For the La(Fe0.88Si0.12)13H1.0 compound, the IEM transition occurs above TC=278 K, and a significant isotropic linear magnetostriction of about 0.3% at 7 T is induced in the vicinity of room temperature. This large magnetostriction is attributed to the giant volume magnetostriction of about 1% by the IEM transition.