Comparative study of structure and phase transitions in Fe-(25–27)%Ga alloys

A wide range of complementary research technique - XRD, SEM, TEM, MFM, HV, and low temperature heat capacity, in situ neutron diffraction, resistivity, vibrating sample magnetometry, internal friction, dilatometry, and differential scanning calorimetry - is applied to study structure and phase transitions at heating and cooling of two Fe–Ga functional alloys with 25 and 27 at.% Ga. Using high resolution neutron diffraction, it is unambiguously proven that the initial state of both as-cast samples at room temperature is the D03 phase which results from ordering of the high temperature A2 phase during cooling. Heating of as-cast samples and their subsequent cooling leads to a cascade of phase transitions which change the samples' structural, mechanical and physical properties. These transitions and properties are discussed in the paper. Transition from metastable D0₃ to stable L1₂ phase at heating or isothermal annealing leads to significant changes in macro (grain size) and micro (ordering) structure, hardness and magnetic properties (magnetostriction, magnetization). According to our structural studies (ND, XRD), composition Fe-25.5 at.%Ga below ∼600 °C belongs to a single phase (L1₂) range of the equilibrium phase diagram, while in the Fe-26.9Ga alloy some amount of the D0₁₉ phase is also present.