Thermal expansion anomaly and spontaneous magnetostriction of Dy2AlFe14Mn2 compound

The structure and magnetic properties of Dy2AlFe14Mn2 compound were investigated by X-ray diffractometry and magnetization measurements. Dy2AlFe14Mn2 compound has a hexagonal Th2Ni17-type structure. Zero thermal expansion and negative thermal expansion were found in Dy2AlFe14Mn2 compound in the temperature range from 184 to 264 K, and from 264 to 383 K, respectively, by X-ray dilatometry. The spontaneous magnetostrictive deformations from 104 to 400 K were calculated. The results show that the spontaneous volume magnetostrictive deformation increases firstly with increasing temperature, and then decreases with further increasing temperature.