The kinetic relation for twin wall motion in NiMnGa—part 2

Abstract

A combined theoretical and experimental investigation of twin wall motion in ferromagnetic shape memory alloy (FSMA) NiMnGa is presented. A general analysis of twinning dynamics in ferroelastic and ferroelectric crystals reveals that different kinetic relations for sidewise twin wall motion appear under different ranges of the driving force. All these relations are shown to be governed by several nano-scale properties of the twin wall. For high values of the driving force with respect to a crystal's Peierls barrier, uniform viscous motion is obtained. Recently (Faran and Shilo, 2011), we reported on a pioneering experimental demonstration of this important kinetic relation through magnetically induced twin wall motion in NiMnGa. In the lower driving force range, twin wall propagates through thermally activated nucleation and growth of twin wall steps. Here, we present a model for step nucleation that leads to an exponential-type kinetic relation that is governed by the values of the step's physical properties. Comparison of experimental results for type I and type II twin walls with model predictions allow for the extraction of all the fundamental material properties that govern twinning dynamics in NiMnGa. In addition, the effect of demagnetization energy on twin wall motion and local variations in viscosity values are presented and discussed.