Magnetostriction of Ni2Mn1−xCrxGa Heusler Alloys

Among the functionalities of magnetic Heusler alloys, magnetostriction is attracting considerable attention. The alloy Ni2MnGa has a premartensite phase, which is a precursor state to the martensitic transition. Some researchers have observed magnetostriction in this alloy in the premartensite phase. We performed magnetostriction studies on the premartensite phase of related Cr-substituted Ni2Mn1−xCrxGa alloys and measured the thermal strain, permeability, magnetisation, and magnetostriction of polycrystals. Our thermal expansion measurements show an anomaly that indicates the occurrence of lattice deformation below the premartensitic transition temperature TP. Our permeability measurements also showed an anomaly at the premartensitic transition. From our magnetisation results, we obtained the magnetic-anisotropy constant K1. In the martensite phase, we found that the magnetic-anisotropy constant of the x = 0.00 alloy is larger than that of the x = 0.15 alloy. At 0.24 MA/m, we obtained a magnetostriction of −120 ppm for the x = 0.15 alloy. Magnetostriction in the premartensite phase is larger than that in the austenite and martensite phases at low magnetic-field strength, thus indicating that it is related to lattice softening in the premartensite phase. The e/a is proportional to the magnetostriction and TP, which indicates that the electron energy, the magnetostriction, and the Tp are correlative each other.