Investigation of the influence of hydrostatic pressure on the magnetic and magnetocaloric properties of Ni2−XMn1+XGa (X = 0, 0.15) Heusler alloys

Abstract

The effect of hydrostatic pressure on the magnetic and magnetocaloric properties of Ni2−XMn1+XGa (X = 0, 0.15) Heusler alloys around the martensitic transformation temperature (TM) has been investigated. We find that magnetic field increases and decreases the characteristic transitions temperature for X = 0 and 0.15, respectively, and increases the saturation magnetization of martensite phase for both the alloys. However, the hysteresis width decreases for both the alloys as we increase the magnetic field to 5 T. Application of hydrostatic pressure increases (decreases) the TM for X = 0 and 0.15. Pressure stabilizes the martensite phase with the increase of TM for Ni2MnGa, whereas the austenite phase gets stabilized with the decrease of TM in Ni1.85Mn1.15Ga (x = 0.15). Metamagnetic-like transition is suppressed for both the specimens with increasing pressure. The maximum magnetic entropy change (ΔSM max) is found to reduce from 19.2 J kg−1 K−1 (P = 0) to 6.04 J kg−1 K−1 (P = 9.69 kilobars) around TM for Ni2MnGa and it decreases from 8.9 J kg−1 K−1 (P = 0) to 1.27 J kg−1 K−1 (P = 7.4 kilobars) around TM for Ni1.85Mn1.15Ga.