PRODUCTION OF BIG MAGNETOSTRICTIVE ALLOY ROD COMPOSED OF RARE EARTH METAL AND TRANSITION METAL

摘要

PURPOSE:To readily and stably obtain big magnetostrictive alloy rod having excellent properties without generation of crack, etc., in high yield by heating rod-like material comprising Dy, Tb and transition metal with high-frequency wave, melting and solidifying in a lowering crucible. CONSTITUTION:A rod-like material 4 made of alloy composed of rare earth containing Dy and Tb and transition metal is inserted into a cylindrical crucible 1. Next, rod-like material 4 in the crucible 1 is locally heated and melted using annular high frequency wave heating coil 7 having 0.1-3MHz frequency and inner diameter of 1.1-1.6 times of outer diameter of the crucible in an inert gas atmosphere kept at 0.2-10atm. Then the crucible 1 is downwardly transferred at a speed of 0.2-8.5mm/min and the rod-like material 4 is downwardly transferred at a fixed speed corresponding to transferring speed of the crucible 1 and cooled. Thus, the rod-like material 4b in molten state is continuously solidified to form unidirectional solidified texture or single crystal to afford the objective big magnetostrictive alloy rod composed of rare earth metal and transition metal.