Electron Acoustic Imaging Of Mn50ni28ga22 Ferromagnetic Shape Memory Alloy

The novel ferromagnetic shape memory alloy Mn50Ni28Ga22 exhibits a single martensite phase with tetragonal structure at room temperature. Its martensite structure was investigated by scanning electron acoustic microscopy. Stripe twin variants exist in every grain and exhibit the configurations of the typical self-accommodation arrangement. The interfaces between twin variants are straight and clear. However, the magnetic domain walls obtained by the Bitter method coincide well with the twin variant boundaries. The first direct evidence of the coincidence between micron-scale magnetic domains and martensite variants is presented. These results will be beneficial for the development of ferromagnetic shape memory alloys and for the understanding of the correlation between magnetic domains and crystallographic twin variant domains as well.