MAGNETOSTRICTION

This paper reviews work since 1961 on magnetostriction, including both its sources and its temperature and magnetic field dependence beyond saturation (forced magnetostriction). A statistical theory of the magnetostriction of ferromagnets is in fine agreement with experiments on nickel and on heavy rare-earth metals, which are reviewed in detail. A different mechanism or two has been invoked to describe the behavior of iron. The paper sketches the origins of magnetoelastic coupling, particularly in rare-earth metals, and describes a phenomenological spin Hamiltonian approach to nonmetals. The theory is then extended to ferrimagnets, whose magnetostrictive behavior is described. Experiments on spinels and garnets are reviewed. The meager literature of the magnetostriction of antiferromagnets is surveyed, and the review ends with a brief description of oscillatory magnetostriction in diamagnets. © 1968 The American Institute of Physics.