Phase transition in a multiferroic Ni-Mn-Ga single crystal

ABSTRACT

We studied martensitic phase transformation, crystal structure and twinned microstructure of resulting martensite of a Ni-Mn-Ga single crystal as essential conditions for magnetic shape memory effect. Thermal dependence of electric resistivity, magnetic susceptibility and dilatation measurements were measured to characterise kinetics of the transformation. With the help of XRD analysis and optical microscopy we evaluated the hierarchical twinning microstructure in the 10M martensite.

KEYWORDS:

• Magnetic shape memory effect
• ferroelastic domains
• twinning structure
• martensitic transformation
• Heusler alloys
• X-ray diffraction

Acknowledgements

The work was supported by Czech Science Foundation grant no. 14-36566G and Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic RVO grant no. 14000. P. Veřtát acknowledges the support by Czech Science Foundation grant no. 15-00262S. We thank V. Kopecký for preparation of the single variant sample.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

Czech Science Foundation [grant number 14-36566G]; Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic RVO [grant number 14000]; Czech Science Foundation [grant number 15-00262S].