Studies on the field-induced martensite to austenite phase transition inNi50Mn34In16 alloy

Abstract

The magnetic transition coupled with the martensitic transition inNi50Mn34In16 alloy is studied through magnetization measurements. The field-induced martensite toaustenite transition has been studied in detail, and the method of using inverted Arrott’s plots(H/M versus M2 plots) to distinguish between the first- and second-order magnetic phase transitions is foundto be inadequate in the present case. The temperature dependence of the characteristicmagnetic fields for the field-induced first-order martensite to austenite phase transition inNi50Mn34In16 is also found to be different from the field-induced first-order paramagnetic toferromagnetic phase transition observed in other systems. These observations areexplained in the framework of disorder-broadened first-order phase transition.