Electronic origin of the negligible magnetostriction of an electric steel Fe1-xSix alloy: A density-functional study

To understand the negligible magnetostriction of Fe-Si alloys used as cores in electric transformers or motors, density-functional calculations were performed on the tetragonal magnetostriction coefficient, λ001, of Fe1-xSix (x ≤ 0.25) alloys as a function of x using the highly precise all-electron full-potential linearized augmented plane-wave method. It was found that the calculated magnetostriction coefficients closely reproduced experimental trends and the negligible magnetostriction near x = 0.111 originated from the mixed phases of A2, B2, and D03; each different atomic type of Fe of Fe0.889Si0.111 has a small and opposite contribution to the magnetostriction.