Large magnetic-field-induced strains in Ni2MnGa single crystals

K. Ullakko, J. K. Huang, C. Kantner, and R. C. OHandleyV. V. Kokorin

Citation: Appl. Phys. Lett. 69, 1966 (1996); doi: 10.1063/1.117637

View online: http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.117637
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Published by the American Institute of Physics

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Large magnetic-field-induced strains in Ni2 MnGa single crystals
K. Ullakko, J. K. Huang, C. Kantner, and R. C. OHandley
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139
V. V. Kokorin
Institute of Metal Physics, Kiev, Ukraine
~Received 3 June 1996; accepted for publication 29 July 1996!
Strains of nearly 0.2% have been induced along @001# in unstressed crystals of Ni2 MnGa with
magnetic fields of 8 kOe applied at 265 K. These stains are associated with the superelastic motion
of twin boundaries in the martensitic phase that is stable below about 274 K. 1996 American
Institute of Physics. @S0003-6951~96!02439-4#

There is intense interest in the development of actuator Ni2 MnGa by rotating the field from @110# to @001#. This
materials having large strains, appreciable thrust, and rapid strain is an order of magnitude greater than the magnetostric-
response time. Rare-earth alloys exhibit large magnetostric- tive strain of the parent, room-temperature phase. Ni2 MnGa
tive strains:1 the Laves phase, TbFe2 shows a magnetostric- is a Heusler alloy, L21 , having a cubic lattice in the high-
tion, l s 5175331026 at room temperature in 25 kOe ~Ref. temperature phase; a55.822 . The martensitic transforma-
2! and the near-zero-anisotropy, pseudobinary, Tb0.27Dy0.73 tion temperature is near 276 K. The low-temperature phase
Fe2 ~Terfenol-D!, has an easy axis magnetostriction, l 111 , evolves from the parent phase by a diffusionless, displacive
of 160031026 in fields of order 10 kOe.3 The strain in un- transformation that gives a tetragonal structure, a5b55.90
stressed Terfenol-D exhibits a field sensitivity of 0.631026 , c55.44 .10
per Oe under magnetic field of 1000 Oe; larger field sensi- A martensitic phase generally accommodates the strain
associated with the transformation (26.56% along c for
tivity of strain is observed in prestressed samples.4 Larger
Ni2 MnGa! by the formation of twin variants that pack to-
strains than those available from rare-earth alloys would be
gether in compatible orientations to minimize strain energy11
of interest. Also, their metallic conductivity precludes opera-
~much as the magnetization of a ferromagnet may take on
tion at elevated frequencies unless the lateral dimensions are
different orientations by breaking up into domains to mini-
small. mize magnetostatic energy!. Alignment of these twin vari-
On the other hand, some of the alloys that undergo mar- ants by the motion of twin boundaries can result in large
tensitic transformations ~diffusionless, displacive, structural macroscopic strains: for Ni2 MnGa at 77 K, a @100#-directed
transformations! can exhibit superelasticity of a few percent stress of only 2 MPa has been reported to give rise to a
and thermally recoverable strains that can be as large as 20% recoverable strain of 5%.12 Magnetic field control of the
~e.g., as in CuAlNi!.5 Materials exhibiting these phenom- twin-variant orientation requires that the magnetization en-
ena are described generally as shape-memory materials ergy, M s H a /2'K u , be sufficient to induce motion of the
because of their ability to reverse a large stress-induced de- twin boundaries.11
formation in the martensitic phase by heating the deformed Single-crystal samples of Ni2 MnGa measuring a few
material through the martensitic/austenitic transformation mm square in cross section by 6 mm long were studied. The
temperature. The martensitic transformation can also be crystal orientation was determined by back reflection Laue
driven by an applied stress. Heating, or especially cooling diffraction. M H curves were taken in a vibrating sample
through a transformation temperature is not a sufficiently fast
method of actuation for many applications. Poor energy con-
version also limits the applicability of shape/memory actua-
tors.
Magnetic field control of the shape memory effect was
recently suggested as a principle for operation of a new class
of actuator material.68 It is now a goal of research in several
groups5,6 to find a magnetic alloy exhibiting a martensitic
phase transformation that would allow control of large dis-
placements by application of a magnetic field at constant
temperature. Numerous candidate materials systems are be-
ing explored including Ni2 MnGa,9 Co2 MnGa, FePt, CoNi,
and FeNiCoTi.
We report here what we believe to be the largest
magnetic-field-controlled strains observed in non-rare-earth
based materials with fields at or below 10 kOe. Strains of
0.19% have been achieved in fields of order 8 kOe in the FIG. 1. Magnetization vs field along the @001# direction in the parent phase
martensitic phase ~at 265 K! of single-crystal samples of ~299 K! and in the martensitic product phase ~265!.

1966 Appl. Phys. Lett. 69 (13), 23 September 1996 0003-6951/96/69(13)/1966/3/$10.00 1996 American Institute of Physics

FIG. 2. Strain vs temperature in zero field and in 10 kOe. The two curves
have been displaced relative to each other along the strain axis for clarity.
magnetometer with the field applied along either the @001# or
@110# direction of the bcc parent phase. Strain was measured
along the @001# direction ~using a metal foil strain gauge! as
a function of temperature from 250 to 300 K and with fields
up to 10 kOe applied along the @001# and @110# directions.
Figure 1 shows the M H curves at 299 K ~parent! and at
FIG. 3. ~a! Relative orientation of sample, strain gauge, and applied field for measurements shown in ~b! and ~c!. ~b! Strain vs applied field in the L21 phase
at 283 K. ~c! Same as ~b! but data taken at 265 K in the martensic phase.
Appl. Phys. Lett., Vol. 69, No. 13, 23 September 1996
272 K ~martensitic phase! for fields applied along the @001#
direction. The slight shear in the initial magnetization re-
sponse is due to sample shape. In the high-temperature
phase, M s 547 emu/g ~382 G! and technical saturation is
achieved in 1 kOe. In the low-temperature, twinned phase we
find M s 558 emu/g ~475 G! and saturation is more difficult.
These magnetization values are lower than those reported by
Webster et al.13 The energy needed to saturate the low-
temperature phase in the @001# direction is 1.173106 erg/
cm3 . The martensitic transformation in our samples occurs at
a temperature of 276 K, considerably greater than that ~205
K! reported by Webster et al.13 The discontinuities in the
slope of M H in the low-temperature phase are typical of
those observed in Terfenol and are associated with the re-
sponse of different twin variants to the applied field.
Figure 2 shows the variation of strain along @001# as a
function of temperature in zero field and in a 10 kOe field
directed along @001#. The background slope of the high-
temperature region in zero field, 10.531026 /K is due to ther-
mal expansion of the sample. In zero field the first-order
transformation to the low-symmetry phase occurs at 276 K
and return to the parent phase is observed at 281.5 K. The
strain at transformation in zero field, Dl/l u H50 , is 231024 .
This is only a small fraction of the lattice constant change
(Dc/c56.56%! because of the strain accommodation by the
different twin variant orientations. A 10 kOe field depresses
the transformation temperatures to 274 and 280.5 K, respec-
tively. The strain at transformation in 10 kOe, Dl/l u H510 , is
1.4531023 , indicating again that the field has aligned some
of the twin variants.
Ullakko et al. 1967
 TABLE I. Physical properties of our single-crystal Ni2 MnGa samples. K u is the energy needed to saturate the
sample. Dl/l u H indicates the change in @001# strain on lowering the temperature through the martensitic trans-
formation temperature. Dl/l] [110] [001] indicates the difference in @001# strain for fields directed along @001# and
@110#.
Martensite ~tetragonal!
Stability range ~K! T,276
Lattice constants ~! a a55.90, c55.44
M s ~G! 475 ~at 272 K!
K u (105 erg/cm3 ) 11.7
Thermal expansion (K21 )
Dl/l u H50
Dl/l u H510
Dl/l u [110] [001] 1.931023
a
Reference 9.
Figure 3~a! shows the relative alignment of the sample,
strain gauge, and applied field for the results shown in panels
~b! and ~c!. In Fig. 3~b! and 3~c! we show the @001# strain in
response to fields applied along @001# and @110# at T5283
and 265 K, respectively. The strain at 283 K can be consid-
ered the magnetostriction of the parent Heusler alloy. Based
on the strain difference at saturation, e i 2e' '0.2031023 ,
we conclude l s 513331026 . The behavior of the martensi-
tic phase is more complex. The strain changes in the low-
temperature phase for 90 rotation of the 10 kOe field from
@001# to @110# is 0.19%. The strain sensitivity is of order
2.531027 /Oe. These results are summarized in Table I.
The data suggest that the field-induced strain is not due
to a shift in the martensitic start temperature. Figure 2 shows
that this temperature is depressed by about 2 K to 274 K
upon application of a field of 10 kOe and, hence, a measure-
ment of strain within two degrees below the martensitic tem-
perature, T M 5276 K, would give a positive @001# strain
starting from the low-temperature phase ~see Fig. 2!. Our
strain in Fig. 3~b! is negative and is measured at 265 K,
outside the range of shift in T M . Also, we have observed the
field-induced strain much further from the transformation
than DT M /DH would account for. Thus, the strain occurs
fully within the martensitic phase and is due to the motion of
twin boundaries that bring more variants into alignment with
the magnetization. ~Application of a magnetic field tends to
rotate the magnetization vector. Those variants for which the
magnetization is now in a high-energy orientation are ener-
getically disposed to shrink in favor of those for which M is
in a low energy orientation.!
The energy required to move the twin boundaries can be
estimated from the stressstrain results of Kokorin and
Martynov.12 At 281 K, they report that a @001# stress change
of approximately 20 MPa produces a strain of 7% once twin
boundary motion is initiated. This implies an energy density,
s e/2, of order 73106 erg/cm3 for essentially total alignment
of all twin variants. Our magnetization loops in the marten-
sitic phase indicate that a magnetic anisotropy energy den-
1968 Appl. Phys. Lett., Vol. 69, No. 13, 23 September 1996
Parent ~bcc!
T.281.5
a55.822
382 ~at 299 K!
2.7
10.531026
231024
1.4531023
0.231023
sity, M s H a /2'1.173106 erg/cm3 ~17% of s e/2) is avail-
able in unfavorably oriented variants to drive twin boundary
motion. Thus, it seems reasonable that we are so far observ-
ing only a small fraction of the total strain available in the
distorted phase.
The martensitic phase in our samples has not been de-
liberately prestressed to align variants for maximum strain
response in the applied field. Variant alignment would allow
observation of a greater fraction of the 6.56% lattice strain
associated with the martensitic transformation. Prestressing
and biasing are topics of our ongoing research as well as
studies of polycrystalline compositions based on
~NiFe!2 Mn~GaAl!.
This work is supported by a grant from the Technology
Development Center of Finland through Data City Center
and from the Academy of Finland. The authors thank Kin Ha
for help with the strain measurements and J. Adario for tak-
ing the Laue diffraction patterns.
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