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Anomalous ideal tensile strength of ferromagnetic Fe and Fe-rich alloys

Within the same failure mode, iron has the lowest ideal tensile strength among the transition metals crystallizing in the body-centered cubic structure. Here, we demonstrate that this anomalously low strength of Fe originates partly from magnetism and is reflected in unexpected alloying effects in dilute Fe(\emph{M}) (\emph{M} = Al, V, Cr, Mn, Co, Ni) binaries. We employ the structural energy difference and the magnetic pressure to disentangle the magnetic effect on the ideal tensile strength from the chemical effect. We find that the investigated solutes strongly alter the magnetic response of the Fe host from the weak towards a stronger ferromagnetic behavior, which is explained based on single-particle band energies.