We performed X-ray fluorescence holography measurements on a Pb(Fe 1/2 Nb 1/2 )O 3 (PFN) multiferroic material in order to investigate the temperature dependence of three dimensional local structure around Fe atoms. It was found that the atomic image intensity of the nearest neighbor Pb atom abruptly decreases when the temperature becomes lower than the Néel temperature (T N ) of about 150 K, while the intensity of the atomic image at nearest Fe/Nb position remains almost unchanged. These observations show that the magnetic transition at T N induces static positional shifts of Pb atoms but does not strongly influence the Fe/Nb atoms, which suggests the involvement of Pb ions into the superexchange interaction between Fe ions and its contribution to the spin-lattice coupling in PFN.

Development of a titanium alloy having excellent hot forgeability and machinability while having the same properties as Ti-64 alloy is effective in reducing the total cost of titanium parts. To develop a new alpha-beta type titanium alloy which has good hot forgeability, machinability and tensile properties equivalent to those of Ti-64 alloy at room temperature, Ti-4.5Al-2.5Cr-1.2Fe-0.1C-nCu-nNi (n=0 to 2) were prepared and evaluated. The new alloy showed tensile properties equivalent to that of Ti-64 alloy at room temperature. On the other hand, the hot deformation stress of new alloy was about 30% lower than that of Ti-64 alloy, and the excellent deformability was confirmed. The addition of Cu and Ni to Ti-4.5Al-2.5Cr-1.2Fe-0.1C alloy suppressed the amount of wear of tool and improved the machinability. Tool life of new alloy machining is extended by about 1.5 times compared to that of Ti-64 alloy. Addition of Cu and Ni is considered to reduce the reactivity between tool and workpiece and improve machinability.