COMPUTER DESIGN OF A NEW CLASS OF MAGNETIC ALLOYS

USING A METALLURGICALLY-CLAD COMPOSITE AS A "WORKSURFACE" CAPABLE OF REPEATEDLY PERFORMING THE SAME HEATING OPERATION WITH GREATER EFFICIENCIES THAN ARE OBTAINABLE WITH TRADITIONAL HEATING METHODS, SMARTHEAT TECHNOLOGY PROVIDES THE BENEFITS OF CONVENTIONAL INDUCTION HEATING IN A TEMPERATURE RANGE HERETOFORE UNATTAINABLE VIA CONVENTIONAL INDUCTION-HEATING TECHNOLOGY. THE COMPOSITE CONSISTS OF A FERROMAGNETIC ALLOY BONDED TO A CU CORE. FERROMAGNETIC MATERIALS HAVE BEEN LIMITED TO FENI BINARY ALLOYS. THE EFFECTS ASSOCIATED WITH THE INVAR PHENOMENON IN THESE ALLOYS VIZ., NEAR-ZERO COEFFICIENT OF THERMAL EXPANSION (CTE), DEPRESSED MAGNETIZATION, AND EXTREME COMPOSITIONAL SENSITIVITY OF THE CURIE TEMPERATURE, HAVE PREVENTED FULL EXPLOITATION OF SMARTHEAT TECHNOLOGY. IN THIS RESEARCH, PROPERTIES OF A NEW CLASS OF FENI-BASE TERNARY ALLOYS ARE PREDICTED USING A NOVEL COMPUTER PROGRAM. COMPUTER-PREDICTED PHASE BOUNDARIES ALLOW DETERMINATION OF COMPOSITIONAL RANGES OF INTEREST. PREDICTED COMPOSITIONAL DEPENDENCES OF CURIE TEMPERATURE AND MAGNETIC MOMENTS ARE SUPERPOSED ON ISOTHERMAL SECTIONS FACILITATING ALLOY SELECTION WITH OPTIMAL PROPERTIES. USING EXISTING DATA, A MODEL FOR QUANTITATIVELY PREDICTING CTE IN TERMS OF COMPOSITION AND TEMPERATURE FOR BINARY ALLOYS IS ALSO BEING DEVELOPED. THIS MODEL WILL BE INCORPORATED INTO THE COMPUTER DATABASE FOR USE IN FUTURE COMPUTER-DESIGNED MATERIALS PROJECTS.