Thermal-cycling-dependent magnetostructural transitions in a Ge-free system Mn0.5Fe0.5Ni(Si,Al)

Abstract

Magnetostructural transitions from low-temperature TiNiSi-type phases to high-temperature Ni2In-type phases had been observed in some MnCoGe-based and MnNiGe-based intermetallic systems. In this work, the TiNiSi-to-Ni2In-type magnetostructural transitions, which are associated with large changes in magnetization and large anisotropy lattice distortion, were obtained in a Ge-free system Mn0.5Fe0.5Ni(Si,Al) in the vicinity of room temperature. Thermal-cycling-dependent properties were observed in the as-prepared bulk polycrystalline samples. This phenomenon could be attributed to the presence of anisotropy internal stress and its release by spontaneously cracking across the thermally activated magnetostructural transitions.