In-situ neutron scattering studies of magnetic shape memory alloys under stress, temperature, and magnetic fields
- Los Alamos National Laboratory
- ANSTO/AUSTRALIA
- AMES LAB
We have utilized the SMARTS engineering neutron diffractometer to study the crystallographic orientation and phase transformations in the ferromagnetic shape memory alloy Ni 2MnGa under conditions of temperature (200-600K), stress (500MPa), and magnetic field (2T). Neutrons are uniquely suited to probe the crystallographic response of materials to external stimuli because of their high penetration, which allows them to sample the bulk of the material (as opposed to the surface) as well as pass through environmental chambers. A single crystal of Ni{sub 5}MnGa was repeatedly thermally cycled through the Austenitic-Martensitic phase transformation under varying conditions of applied stress, magnetic field or both. In-situ neutron diffraction was used to quantitatively monitor the population of the crystallographic variants in the martensitic phase as a function of the external stimuli during cooling. Neutron diffraction was used to monitor variant selection in the Ferromagnetic Shape Memory Alloy Ni{sub 2}Mn Ga during austenitic to martensitic transformation under varying conditions of externally applied stress and magnetic field. Qualitatively, the results were to be expected in this simple example. The shorter and magnetically soft c-axis of the tetragonal martensitic phase aligned with the compressive stress or magnetic field. However, neutron diffraction proved useful in directly quantifying the selection of the preferred variant by external influence. For instance, by quantifying the variant selection, the neutron diffraction results made apparent that the sample 'remembered' a loading cycle following a 'reset' cycle with no external applied stress. Moreover, the power of in-situ neutron diffraction will become more apparent when applied to more complex, less understood, samples such as polycrystalline samples or composite samples.
- Research Organization:
- Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC52-06NA25396
- OSTI ID:
- 1017482
- Report Number(s):
- LA-UR-10-03839; LA-UR-10-3839; TRN: US201113%%604
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: PTM 2010, Solid state phenomena ; June 26, 2010 ; Riva del Garda, Italy
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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