Giant negative thermal expansion in antiperovskite manganese nitrides

Abstract

Giant negative thermal expansion (NTE), over α = −30 × 10−6 K−1 (α: coefficient of linear thermal expansion), at room temperature can be achieved in Mn3ZnN-based antiperovskite manganese nitrides by simultaneous substitution of C and B for N as well as Sn for Zn. The developed NTE nitrides show larger negative α, although the width of the operating-temperature window is comparable to that of Mn3CuN-based materials developed to date. Such a large, isotropic, and high-stiffness NTE material can compensate for the large positive thermal expansion of, for example, even aluminum or plastic materials.