Magnetostructural martensitic transformations with large volume changes and magneto-strains in all-d-metal Heusler alloys

The all-d-metal Mn-2-based Heusler ferromagnetic shape memory alloys Mn50Ni40-xCoxTi10 (x = 8 and 9.5) are realized. With a generic comparison between d-metal Ti and main-group elements in lowering the transformation temperature, the magnetostructural martensitic transformations are established by further introducing Co to produce local ferromagnetic Mn-Co-Mn configurations. A 5-fold modulation and (3, -2) stacking of [00 10] of martensite are determined by X-ray diffraction and HRTEM analysis. Based on the transformation, a large magneto-strain of 6900 ppm and a large volume change of -2.54% are observed in polycrystalline samples, which makes the all-d-metal magnetic martensitic alloys of interest for magnetic/pressure multi-field driven applications. Published by AIP Publishing.