Invar and Elinvar Characteristics in Nonferromagnetic Cr-Co Dilute Binary Alloys*
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Invar and Elinvar Characteristics in Nonferromagnetic Cr-Co Dilute Binary Alloys* By Kazuaki Fukamichi,** Norio Fukuda*** and Hideo Saito** Invar and Elinvar type alloys are important materials for precision instruments. Practical applications of these alloys are, however, often restricted to within narrow limits because of their ferromagnetism. Therefore, researches to develop nonferromagnetic Invar and Elinvar type alloys have recently received considerable attention. Chromium is an antiferromagnetic metal and its physical properties in the neighborhood of the Neel temperature are drastically affected by addition of solute atoms. The present authors have investigated the thermal expansivity Δl/l, the relative change in the electrical resistivity Δρ/ρ and the temperature dependence of the magnetic susceptibility X for Cr-Co dilute alloys. The thermal expansivity of these alloys in the vicinity of room temperature is very small, showing the Invar characteristic. Some alloys show also the Elinvar characteristic in the same temperature range where the Invar characteristic occurs. Both Invar and Elinvar characteristics have for the first time been found in chromium dilute binary alloys. The magnetic susceptibility of these alloys is less than 5×10-6emu/g, indicating that they are practically nonferromagnetic. The Neel temperature of the Cr-Co dilute alloys varies irregularly with increasing cobalt con- centration;itdecreases slightlywith cobalt concentration up to 2.0%Co, increasesup to 2.5%Co, and decreases with further increase in cobalt concentration. But the Neel temperature determined from the temperature dependence of Δ ρ/ρ and X does not coincide with an inflection point on the thermal expansion curve. (Received April 22, 1975) thermal expansion of the alloy due to the tem- I. Introduction perature increase of 1℃. Consequently, it results from the fact that the alloy cannot be Invar and Elinvar type alloys are widely used used as materials of electromagnetic and preci- in the field of electromagnetic and precision sion instruments which are often put in a instrumentation engineering. These alloys, how- static magnetic field and, moreover, the alloy ever, have been all ferromagnetic and applica- exhibits a magnetostrictive oscillation in an tions are often restricted to within narrow alternating magnetic field. limits because of their ferromagnetism. The elastic moduli of ferromagnetic Elinvar Ferromagnetic Invar type alloys exhibit a type alloys are affected remarkably in a mag- large magnetostriction in a static magnetic netic field, as known as the ΔE and ΔG effects(2). field. For example, Fe-36%Ni Invar alloy For example, when the Elinvar alloys are used shows a magnetostrictive elongation of about as hair springs of watches, the rate is affected 2×10-5 per unit length in a magnetic field of by a magnetic field, and the oscillation is 80 Oe(1) and this value is larger than the stopped at only 80 Oe(3). Therefore, the dis- * This paper was presented at the Spring Meeting covery of nonferromagnetic Invar and Elinvar type alloys has long been awaited for. of the Japan Institute of Metals (1973), Tokyo, Japan, and published originally in Japanese in The elastic moduli of metals and alloys J. Japan Inst. Metals, 38 (1974), 327. exhibit remarkable crystal anisotropy, and so ** The Research Institute for Iron , Steel and Other we can comparatively easily obtain Elinvar Metals, Tohoku University, Sendai 980, Japan. type alloys of polycrystalline materials by ap- *** Graduate School , Tohoku University, Sendai 980, Japan. Present address: Nippon Gakki plication of cold working or heat treatment. Co. Ltd., Metal Division, Iwata, Shizuoka 438, Therefore, the nonferromagnetic Elinvar char- Japan. acteristic has often been reported on paramag- Trans. JIM 1976 Vol. 17 126 Kazuaki Fukamichi, Norio Fukuda and Hideo Saito netic or antiferromagnetic metals and al- found that these alloys have both Invar and loys(3)~(8). On the contrazy, no crystal aniso- Elinvar characteristics. tropy should exist in the thermal expansion of cubic crystals. Therefore, the only way to obtain II. Experimental nonferromagnetic Invar type alloys should be based on the anomalous volume effect of an As starting materials for the alloys, Cr antiferromagnet. (99.99%) and Co (99.99%) were used. The Mn-base antiferromagnetic alloys of Mn-Cu, alloys were prepared in the form of buttons by Mn-Ni, etc. cause the martensitic transforma- repeating arc-melting three times in argon tion and the magnetic transformation in the atmosphere. They were remelted in a strip- vicinity of room temperature, but their thermal shaped form in the same atmosphere. The expansion coefficient changes only slightly at specimens were vacuum-sealed in quartz am- the transformation temperature, showing no poules, homogenized for 3 days at 800℃ and Invar characteristic(9) Other antiferromag- then cooled in a furnace. netic Elinvar type alloys containing Mn gener- The temperature dependence of the electrical ally exhibit a large thermal expansion coeffi- resistivity was measured by the four-terminal cient(6); the minimum coefficient obtained so method using a direct current potentiometer. far is about g×10-6for a binary Fe-34.8%Mn The thermal expansion curves were determined alloy. The value is too large to be called the with a roller-mirror type dilatometer. The Invar type and it should be less than 4×10-6 temperature dependence of the magnetic sus- to be Invar type alloys(10) ceptibility and the magnetization curve were The study of physical properties of Cr-base measured with a magnetic balance. The tem- primary solid solution alloys was for the first perature dependence of the proper frequency time made by Newmann et al. for the Cr-Fe of vibration was determined with a vibrator system, and it was found that the thermal controlled oscillator system. expansion and the electrical resistivity change remarkably in the neighborhood of the Neel III. Results and Discussion temperature(11). The spin density wave theory was then proposed by Overhauser(12), and Figure 1 shows thermal expansion curves of since then Cr and its primary solid solution alloys have been investigated by many workers(13)~(20). Magnetic phase diagrams of Cr-V(13), Cr-Fe(14) and Cr-Mn(13) systems have been determined from the experimental results of neutron diffraction. The spin structure differs between these phase diagrams depending on the kind of additional elements and tem- perature. Thermal expansion, elastic modulus and electrical resistivity exhibit anomalies along with such variations of the spin structure. The present authors have studied many Cr- base alloys taking these unusual phenomena into account and have already discovered many Cr-Fe base ternary Invar type alloys in the primary solid solution range of Cr-Fe-Mn, Cr-Fe-Ru and Cr-Fe-Sn(21)~(25). In the present study, the thermal expansion, electrical resistivity, elastic characteristic and magnetic property of Cr-Co binary primary solid solu- Fig. l Temperature dependence of the thermal tion alloys have been measured and it has been expansivity for some Cr-Co alloys. Invar and Elinvar Characteristics in Nonferromagnetic Cr-Co Dilute Binary Alloys 127 some Cr-Co binary solid solution alloys. The thermal expansivity Δl/l becomes smaller at room temperature with increase in Co con- centration. Especially, the thermal expansion coefficient α of a Cr-2.12%Co alloy is almost zero from -10°to 30℃ showing an excellent Invar characteristic. With further increase in Co concentration, conversely,Δl/l becomes gradually larger, but as shown in the figure, in the case of a Cr-3.44% Co alloy, the value of a at room temperature is about 3.4×10-6 which is only a few tenths of the values of usual metals and alloys. In the high temperature range, the thermal expansion coefficients of all Cr-Co alloys are almost the same as that of pure Cr. In the case of Cr-Fe binary solid solution alloys, the thermal expansion curve and the Neel temperature are remarkably Fig. 2 Relative change in proper frequency of vibra- changed by the addition of third elements such tion for Cr-Co alloys. as Mn, Sn, Ru, etc. and this fact results in a wide temperature range of the Invar char- solution alloys. These properties are important acteristic(21)~(25). As mentioned above, how- in designing precision instruments. ever, in the present experiments, the Invar In a Cr-2-0% Co alloy, the Δf/f takes a characteristic has been also obtained in the minimum value at -30℃, and it is possible to Cr-Co binary alloys. The temperature range in obtain the Elinvar characteristic in the vicinity which the above alloys exhibit the Invar char- of room temperature with addition of third acteristic is narrower than that of Cr-Fe-Mn elements such as Mn and Ru which should ternary primary solid solution Invar type raise the Neel temperature, and some ternary alloys(21)~(22), but the range is extended by alloys showing the excellent Elinvar character- control of Δl/l and the Noel temperature with istic have thus been found. Detailed results addition of third elements(26) . will be reported elsewhere in the near future. Figure 2 shows the temperature dependence Figure 3 shows the temperature dependence of the relative change in proper frequency of vibration Δf/f in Cr-Co binary primary solid solution alloys. Conventional practical Invar type alloys exhibit a maximum value for the temperature coefficient of elastic modulus e in the composi- tion where the thermal expansion coefficient a becomes minimum. Accordingly, we cannot realize the alloy composition which exhibits both Invar and Elinvar characteristics in the same temperature range. A Cr-2.7% Co alloy exhibits, however, the small change in Of/f from -20°to 20℃ showing the Elinvar char- acteristic as shown in the figure; moreover, this alloy exhibits the Invar characteristic. Both Invar and Elinvar characteristics have for the first time been found in the same temperature Fig.