Low hysteretic magnetostructural transformation in Cr-doped Ni-Mn-Ga Heusler alloy

Ni-Mn-Ga based alloys are widely studied due to their potential for practical applications, making use of their martensitic transformations. However, hysteresis is a long-standing drawback that reduces the chance of transferring these alloys from the laboratory to industry. In this work, we studied a Cr-doped Ni2.15Mn0.70Cr0.15Ga alloy. We arrived at this composition by integrating data obtained from the previous phase and hysteresis diagrams taken from the literature. The compound presents a magnetostructural transition at room temperature, with a ferromagnetic martensite phase, and moderate thermal hysteresis of approximately 4 K. The magnetocaloric and ferromagnetic shape memory effects were explored, showing a reversible entropy change of approximately 9 Jkg-1K-1 under 0-5 T field change, and a cyclical magnetic -field-induced deformation close to 0.81% under 0-9 T, an advance towards high reversibility for this family alloys.(c) 2022 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

In this study, a Cr-doped Ni2.15Mn0.70Cr0.15Ga alloy was investigated, which demonstrated a magnetostructural transition, thermal hysteresis, magnetocaloric effect, and ferromagnetic shape memory effect.