Resonant ultrasound spectroscopy - a tool to probe magneto-elastic properties of ferromagnetic shape memory alloys

Resonant ultrasound spectroscopy (RUS) was used to investigate the changes of elastic properties induced by magnetic field in magnetic shape memory alloys Ni-Mn-Ga and Co-Ni-Al. In contrast to large magneto-elastic response of Ni2MnGa austenite, there is only very weak response of Co-Ni-Al. This indicates that the austenite phase of Ni-Mn-Ga can have a privileged position and this may be a reason for the existence of magnetic shape memory effect. In contrast to austenite, the magneto-elastic response in Ni-Mn-Ga martensite is very small with large damping due to existence of twin boundaries. The measurement showed that RUS can be a powerful method to probe magneto-elastic properties of shape memory alloys.