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Title: Unprecedented non-hysteretic superelasticity of [001]-oriented NiCoFeGa single crystals

Journal Article · · Nature Materials
 [1];  [1];  [2];  [1];  [1];  [3];  [4];  [3];  [1];  [1];  [5];  [5];  [6];  [1];  [1];  [3];  [3];  [3];  [3]
  1. Univ. of Science and Technology, Beijing (China)
  2. Beijing Inst. of Technology (China)
  3. Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)
  4. Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
  5. Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Beijing (China). Inst. of Physics. Beijing National Lab. for Condensed Matter Physics (BNLCP-CAS)
  6. KTH Royal Inst. of Technology, Stockholm (Sweden); Wigner Research Center for Physics, Budapest (Hungary)

Superelasticity associated with the martensitic transformation has found a broad range of engineering applications. However, the intrinsic hysteresis and temperature sensitivity of the first-order phase transformation significantly hinder the usage of smart metallic components in many critical areas. In this paper, we report a large superelasticity up to 15.2% strain in [001]-oriented NiCoFeGa single crystals, exhibiting non-hysteretic mechanical responses, a small temperature dependence and high-energy-storage capability and cyclic stability over a wide temperature and composition range. In situ synchrotron X-ray diffraction measurements show that the superelasticity is correlated with a stress-induced continuous variation of lattice parameter accompanied by structural fluctuation. Neutron diffraction and electron microscopy observations reveal an unprecedented microstructure consisting of atomic-level entanglement of ordered and disordered crystal structures, which can be manipulated to tune the superelasticity. The discovery of the large elasticity related to the entangled structure paves the way for exploiting elastic strain engineering and development of related functional materials. NiCoFeGa single crystals exhibit large non-hysteretic superelasticity over broad temperature and composition ranges. It is attributed to the continuous phase transition with applied stress, which is related to the fluctuation of entangled ordered and disordered crystal structures.

Research Organization:
Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States); Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES); National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC); Funds for Creative Research Groups of China; Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities; State Key Laboratory for Advanced Metals and Materials; Swedish Research Council (SRC); Hungarian Scientific Research Fund
Grant/Contract Number:
AC02-06CH11357; 51831003; 51527801; 51921001; B170003; 06111020; 06111040; 2017Z-09; OTKA 128229; AC05-00OR22725
OSTI ID:
1657821
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1897822
Journal Information:
Nature Materials, Vol. 19, Issue 7; ISSN 1476-1122
Publisher:
Springer Nature - Nature Publishing GroupCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 72 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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Cited By (8)

Recent progress in Heusler-type magnetic shape memory alloys journal June 2015
Magnetocaloric effect in Ni–Fe–Ga shape memory alloys journal March 2006
Magnetostriction in Mn3CuN journal April 2008
Defect formation energy and magnetic structure of shape memory alloys Ni–X–Ga (X=Mn, Fe, Co) by first principle calculation journal September 2010
Realization of multifunctional shape-memory ferromagnets in all- d -metal Heusler phases journal July 2015
Electronic structure and x-ray spectroscopy of Cu 2 MnAl 1– x Ga x journal April 2018
Electronic behaviors during martensitic transformations in all- d -metal Heusler alloys journal July 2019
Transformation Volume Effects on Shape Memory Alloys journal July 2013