Takeuchi, Hunter in Nature Communications

• Hunter

Cantilever library used to measured magnetostriction of Co_1-xFe_x thin films (top); typical composition variation across a row of cantilevers (bottom).

In a paper published in the November 2 issue of Nature Communications, a team of researchers led by Department of Materials Science and Engineering Professor Ichiro Takeuchi and alumnus Dwight Hunter (Ph.D. '11, formerly advised by Takeuchi), reported the discovery of large magnetostriction in an iron/cobalt alloy—in other words, the alloy shows a mechanical strain when a magnetic field is applied.

This property is sought after in materials with good mechanical properties for microelectromechanical systems (MEMS), sensors and actuators. However, magnetostrictive materials are usually based on rare or difficult-to-obtain materials, so scientists have been looking for alternatives based on common, cheap and widely available elements.

The team was able to enhance the magnetostriction of the alloy by more than a factor of 3, and it appears that the mechanism by which they were able to enhance the magnetostriction can be used to discover even better magnetostriction properties in alloys of common metals.

Takeuchi and Hunter's co-authors included MSE professor Manfred Wuttig, MSE graduate student Richard Suchoski and former MSE postdoctoral research associate Ryota Takahashi; Will Osborn, Ke Wang, alumnus Jason Hattrick-Simpers (Ph.D. '07), and Leonid A. Bendersky, representing NIST; Apurva Mehta (Stanford University), Nataliya Kazantseva (Urals Branch of the Academy of Sciences, Russia); Marcus L. Young (Oregon State University); and Sam E. Lofland (Rowan University).

The research was also featured on Physorg.com.

Story courtesy of and adapted from the original by Bronwyn Barnett, SLAC Communications, Stanford University), bronwynb@slac.stanford.edu.

For More Information:

Dwight Hunter, Will Osborn, Ke Wang, Nataliya Kazantseva, Jason Hattrick-Simpers, Richard Suchoski, Ryota Takahashi, Marcus L. Young, Apurva Mehta, Leonid A. Bendersky, Sam E. Lofland, Manfred Wuttig, and Ichiro Takeuchi. "Giant magnetostriction in annealed Co_1−xFe_x thin-films." Nature Communications, 2 November 2:518 DoI: 10.1038/ncomms1529 (2011). Read Online »

Read "New magnetic-field-sensitive alloy could find use in novel micromechanical devices" on Physorg.com »

Published November 2, 2011