J Mater Sci Technol ›› 2012, Vol. 28 ›› Issue (3): 193-199.

• Reviews •     Next Articles

A Review on the Regulation of Magnetic Transitions and the Related Magnetocaloric Properties in Ni-Mn-Co-Sn Alloys

Zhenchen Zhong1), Shengcan Ma1,2), Dunhui Wang2) , Youwei Du   

  1. 1) School of Material Science and Engineering, Nanchang Hangkong University, Nanchang 330063, China
    2) Department of Physics, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, China
  • Received:2011-12-14 Revised:2012-02-20 Online:2012-03-31 Published:2012-03-31
  • Contact: Zhenchen Zhong and Shengcan Ma
  • Supported by:

    the National Basic Research Program of China (No. 2005CB623605), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 50701022 and 50831006), Jiangxi Provincial Sci&Tech Project (No. 2010AZX00200), and the Program for New Century Excellent Talents of China (No. NCET-08-0278)

Abstract: In Ni-Mn-X (X=In, Sn, Sb) ferromagnetic shape memory alloys, a ferromagnetic transition from paramagnetic to ferromagnetic austenite and a martensitic transformation from ferromagnetic austenite to weak magnetic martensite occur in some particular composition ranges, in which abundant physical properties have been observed by the abrupt change of magnetization and resistivity around their transition temperatures in  these alloys. Therefore, tuning the martensitic transformation temperature (TM) and enlarging the workingtemperature interval for Ni-Mn-X (X=In, Sn, Sb) alloys, are of great importance. In the present paper, we will focus on the effect of external factors, including pre-deformation, annealing, and high pressure annealing, on the magnetic transitions and the related magnetocaloric properties in Ni-Mn-Co-Sn ferromagnetic shape memory alloys. Our approaches and the main results in this particular field will be reviewed.

Key words: Martensitic transformation, Magnetocaloric properties, Pre-deformation, Annealing, High pressure annealing