Research progress in magnetostrictive metallic materials

Magnetostrictive materials can generate strain under magnetic fields, enabling the mutual conversion between magnetic energy and mechanical energy, which makes them highly suitable for sensing, transduction, and actuation applications. Typical magnetostrictive metallic materials mainly include Laves-phase rare-earth intermetallic compounds, Fe-based alloys (such as FeGa and FeAl), and ferromagnetic shape memory alloys. The essence of magnetostriction lies in magnetoelastic coupling, where the magnetic state of the material interacts with lattice strain. As a result, the crystal structure directly influences the magnetostrictive effect. This paper reviews the research progress in these three types of magnetostrictive alloys from the perspectives of crystal structure, underlying mechanisms, and advances in new materials and processing techniques. It elucidates the interrelationships among these factors and offers an outlook on future research and development trends.