Alignments and orientations of MnSn2 phase during the solidification process of SnMn alloy under a high magnetic field

Abstract

It has been reported that MnSn2 exhibited unusual magnetic behaviors related to its crystal structure. However, little work has been done to investigate its behavioral responses to a high magnetic field (HMF), which is of potentially fundamental interest. Based on this, binary SnMn alloy was solidified under different HMFs in this work. The results show that the primary MnSn2 crystals appear block- or bar-like shapes in both the longitudinal and transverse sections. In the longitudinal sections, however, the HMFs tend to align the bar-like crystals with the long axes perpendicular to the magnetic field. In the transverse sections, the HMFs have little influence on the alignments of the bar-like crystals but increase their amount. A crystallographic study indicates that ©110ª is the easy magnetization axis of the MnSn2 crystals that orients preferentially parallel to the magnetic field. These results are attributed to the magnetic anisotropy of the MnSn2 crystals.