In materials science, galfenol is the general term for an alloy of iron and gallium.
[1] Galfenol is also proposed for vibrational energy harvesting, actuators for precision machine tools, active anti-vibration systems, and anti-clogging devices for sifting screens and spray nozzles.
[2][3] In 2009, scientists from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, and National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) used neutron beams to determine the structure of galfenol.
These clumps have been described by Peter Gehring of the NIST Center for Neutron Research as "something like raisins within a cake".
[1] It has also been proposed that there is an intrinsic mechanism generating this enhanced magnetostriction, which has its origins in the electronic structure of the material as described by density functional theory.