Effect of ion nitriding modification on surface hardness, corrosion resistance and magnetostriction of （Tb0.3Dy0.7）Fe1.95 alloy was investigated. Results demonstrated that a 100-200 nm thick nitrided layer was formed on the sample surface by ion nitriding treatment, which improved obviously surface hardness, wear, and corrosion resistance properties of （Tb0.3Dy0.7）Fe1.95 alloys. The surface hardness was increased from HV587 to HV622 after ion nitriding at 650 K for 6 h. Furthermore, ion nitriding treatment had almost no influence on mag- netostrictive performance as the nitrided layer was quite thin and the treatment temperature was not too high. The results might provide us a new approach for surface modification of （Tb0.3Dy0.7）Fe1.95 alloy.
The relationship between crystal growth mode, preferred orientation and magnetostrictive properties of （Tb0.3Dy0.7）Fe1.95 alloys was investigated at different directional solidification rates. The results showed that preferred orientation had a strong influence on the characteristics of （Tb0.3Dy0.7）Fe1.95 alloys. At lower solidification rates, the sample with 〈110〉 preferred orientation showed larger low-field magnetostriction and apparent compressive stress effect. The excessive solidification rate resulted in failure of preferred orientation and a poor magnetostrictive performance. With an increase in solidification rates, the crystal growth modes changed gradually from cellular and primary dendrite morphology to developed dendritic morphology. In addition, domain configurations were observed using magnetic force microscopy, and the change of magnetostrictive properties was interpreted in terms of revealing the domain configurations.
