High Magnetic Field Effects on the Solid-liquid Reaction of Fe–Ga System

Abstract

The effect of magnetic fields on solid-liquid reactions in the Fe–Ga binary system was investigated using Fe/Ga diffusion couples. The reaction and phase growth proceeded by diffusion-controlled process for both 0 and 10 T. It is found that the growth of the intermetallic phases was suppressed by magnetic fields of 10 T regardless of whether α-Fe was in a ferromagnetic or paramagnetic state. The pre-exponential factors in the parabolic coefficient of the Fe₃Ga + eutectic region at 0 and 10 T were 2.50 × 10⁴ m²/s and 1.32 × 10³ m²/s, respectively. Meanwhile, activation energies at 0 and 10 T were 336 kJ/mol and 318 kJ/mol, respectively, which indicated the ineffectiveness of magnetic fields. That is, reduction of pre-exponential factor of the parabolic coefficient leads the magnetic-field-induced suppression of the reaction in Fe/Ga.