Magnetic and Martensitic Transitions in Ni2Mn1+xSn1-x Alloys
The magnetic phase diagram of Ni2Mn1+xSn1−x based ferromagnetic (FM) shape memory alloys for varied concentrations of x have been studied. With increasing concentration of Mn, the FM Curie temperature (TC) decreases, while the martensitic transition temperature (TM) goes higher. For x = 0.44 and 0.48, TM is close to the onset of ferromagnetism, and two distinct magnetic transitions are observed corresponding to the TC’s of the FM phases of martensite and austenite respectively. The isothermal magnetization at 5 K indicates saturating behaviour at high fields and the saturation moment drops linearly with x. The samples show reasonably large negative magnetoresistance around TM, however the magnitude drops with increasing x. The magnetoresistance is found to be highly irreversible with respect to the applied magnetic field and field induced arrested state is observed for all the FM samples studied around the first order martensitic transition. The present investigation clearly indicates complex magnetic ground state of the Ni2Mn1+xSn1−x samples with competing magnetic interactions.