Magnetostrictive contribution to Poisson ratio of galfenol.

In this work we present a detailed study on the magnetostrictive contribution to Poisson ratio for samples under applied mechanical stress. Magnetic contributions to strain and Poisson ratio for cubic materials were derived by accounting elastic and magneto-elastic anisotropy contributions. We apply our theoretical results for a material of interest in magnetomechanics, namely, galfenol (Fe1-xGax). Our results show that there is a non-negligible magnetic contribution in the linear portion of the curve of stress versus strain. The rotation of the magnetization towards [110] crystallographic direction upon application of mechanical stress leads to an auxetic behavior, i.e., exhibiting Poisson ratio with negative values. This magnetic contribution to auxetic behavior provides a novel insight for the discussion of theoretical and experimental developments of materials that display unusual mechanical properties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]