Phase transitions in Heusler alloys with exchange inversion

Abstract

Phase diagrams of the Heusler Ni-Mn-X (X=In, Sn, Sb) alloys with exchange inversion are investigated. It is shown that a few different types of the phase diagrams depending on the signs of phenomenological parameters of the Ginzburg-Landau functional are obtained. In the diagrams there are thermodynamic paths, which can explain the experimentally observed sequences of the phase transitions in Ni-Mn-X alloys. © 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.