Inspired by nature: investigating tetrataenite for permanent magnet applications.

Chemically ordered L10-type FeNi, also known as tetrataenite, is under investigation as a rare-earth-free advanced permanent magnet. Correlations between crystal structure, microstructure and magnetic properties of naturally occurring tetrataenite with a slightly Fe-rich composition (~ Fe55Ni44) obtained from the meteorite NWA 6259 are reported and augmented with computationally derived results. The tetrataenite microstructure exhibits three mutually orthogonal crystallographic variants of the L10 structure that reduce its remanence; nonetheless, even in its highly unoptimized state tetrataenite provides a room-temperature coercivity of 95.