Internal stress induced texture in Ni-Mn-Ga based glass-covered microwires

We have studied magnetic and structural properties of the composite microwires consisted of the metallic core and the outer glass shell. Nominal chemical composition of the core was Ni49.5Mn25.4Ga25.1, its diameter was 13.2 mu m, and the total diameter of the glass-covered microwires was 26.4 mu m. We have found out that at room temperature the core of the as-cast microwires was composed by two phases with tetragonal I4/mmm and cubic Fm3m crystal structures, but annealing rendered it single phase. Measurements of the magnetic properties have demonstrated substantial growth of the magnetic anisotropy with cooling, which we have attributed to the phase transition from the room-temperature austenitic to the low-temperature martensitic state. Magnetic easy axis was found to be perpendicular to the axis of the microwires at low temperatures. We believe that it is a result of the crystallographic texture induced in the martensite by high internal stress characteristic of the glass-covered magnetic microwires. Though rearrangement of the martensitic microstructure under external pressure was previously observed in the single crystal Ni2MnGa samples, in composite materials this effect is new and can be potentially useful for the applications. (C) 2013 AIP Publishing LLC.