We have studied the influence of the Mn content on the elastic properties of Fe–Mn random alloys (space group of Fmm) using ab initio calculations. The magnetic effects in Fe–Mn alloys have a strong influence on the elastic properties, even above the Néel temperature. As the Mn content is increased from 5 to 40 at. %, the C44 elastic constant is unaffected, while C11 and C12 decrease. This behavior can be understood based on the magnetovolume effect which softens the lattice. Since the amplitude of local magnetic moments is less sensitive to volume conserving distortions, the softening is not present during shearing.Original publication: Denis Music, Tetsuya Takahashi, Levente Vitos, Christian Asker, Igor A. Abrikosov and Jochen M. Schneider, Elastic properties of Fe–Mn random alloys studied by ab initio calculations, 2007, Applied Physics Letters, (91), 191904. Copyright: The America Institute of Physics, http://www.aip.org