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Heusler alloy
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A Heusler alloy is a ferromagnetic metal alloy based on a Heusler

phase. Heusler phases are intermetallics with particular composition
and face-centered cubic crystal structure. They are ferromagnetic as a
result of the double-exchange mechanism between neighboring
magnetic ions. The latter are usually manganese ions, which sit at the
body centers of the cubic structure and carry most of the magnetic
moment of the alloy. (See the Bethe-Slater curve for more info on
why this happens.)

Contents
In the case of the full Heusler alloys
with formula X2YZ (e. g., Co2MnSi)
1 Discovery and properties
two of them are occupied by X-atoms
2 List of Heusler alloys (L21 structure), for the semi-Heusler
3 References alloys XYZ one fcc sublattice
remains unoccupied (C1b structure).
4 Further reading
5 External links

Discovery and properties

The term is named after a German mining engineer and chemist Friedrich Heusler, who studied such an
alloy in 1903. It contained two parts copper, one part manganese, and one part tin, that is Cu2MnSn, and has
the following properties. Its magnetism varies considerably with heat treatment and composition.[1] It has a
room-temperature saturation induction of around 8,000 gauss, which exceeds that of the element nickel
(around 6100 gauss) but is smaller than that of iron (around 21500 gauss). For early studies see.[2][3][4] In
1934, Bradley and Rogers showed that the room-temperature ferromagnetic phase was a fully ordered
structure of the L21 type.[5] This has a primitive cubic lattice of copper atoms with alternate cells
body-centered by manganese and aluminium. The lattice parameter is 5.95 ngstrms. The molten alloy has
a solidus temperature of about 910 C. As it is cooled below this temperature, it transforms into disordered,
solid, body-centered cubic beta-phase. Below 750 C, a B2 ordered lattice forms with a primitive cubic
copper lattice, which is body-centered by a disordered manganese-aluminium sublattice.[1][6] Cooling below
610 C causes further ordering of the manganese and aluminium sub-lattice to the L21 form.[1][7] In
non-stoichiometric alloys, the temperatures of ordering decrease, and the range of anealing temperatures,
where the alloy does not form microprecipitates, becomes smaller than for the stoichiometric material.
[8][9][1]

Oxley found a value of 357 C for the Curie temperature, below which the alloy becomes ferromagnetic.[10]
Neutron diffraction and other techniques have shown that a magnetic moment of around 3.7 Bohr magnetons
resides almost solely on the manganese atoms.[1][11] As these atoms are 4.2 Angstroms apart, the exchange
interaction, which aligns the spins, is likely indirect and is mediated through conduction electrons or the
aluminium and copper atoms.[10][12]

Electron microscopy studies demonstrated that thermal antiphase boundaries (APBs) form during cooling

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through the ordering temperatures, as ordered domains nucleate at

different centers within the crystal lattice and are often out of step
with each other where they meet.[1][6] The anti-phase domains grow
as the alloy is annealed. There are two types of APBs corresponding
to the B2 and L21 types of ordering. APBs also form between
dislocations if the alloy is deformed. At the APB the manganese
atoms will be closer than in the bulk of the alloy and, for
non-stoichiometric alloys with an excess of copper (e.g.
Cu2.2MnAl0.8), an antiferromagnetic layer forms on every thermal
APB.[13] These antiferromagnetic layers completely supersede the
normal magnetic domain structure and stay with the APBs if they are
grown by annealing the alloy. This significantly modifies the
magnetic properties of the non-stoichiometric alloy relative to the
stoichiometric alloy which has a normal domain structure.
Presumably this phenomenon is related to the fact that pure
manganese is an antiferromagnet although it is not clear why the
effect is not observed in the stoichiometric alloy. Similar effects
occur at APBs in the ferromagnetic alloy MnAl at its stoichiometric
composition. Electron microscope images of
Cu-Mn-Al Heusler alloy showing
Another useful Heusler alloy is the class of materials known as magnetic domain walls tied to APB's
ferromagnetic shape memory alloys. These are generally composed (a) L21 antiphase boundaries by
of nickel, manganese and gallium and can change their length by up <111> dark-field imaging - the
to 10% in a magnetic field. remaining micrographs are in
bright-field so that the APB's are not
List of Heusler alloys in contrast (b) magnetic domains by
Foucault (displaced aperture)
Cu2MnAl, Cu2MnIn, Cu2MnSn, imaging, and (c) magnetic domain
walls by Fresnel (defocus) imaging.
Ni2MnAl, Ni2MnIn, Ni2MnSn, Ni2MnSb, Ni2MnGa
Co2MnAl, Co2MnSi, Co2MnGa, Co2MnGe
Pd2MnAl, Pd2MnIn, Pd2MnSn, Pd2MnSb
Co2FeSi, Co2FeAl
Fe2VAl
Mn2VGa, Co2FeGe [14][15]

References
1. Bouchard M. (1970). Ph.D. Thesis, Imperial College London. Missing or empty |title= (help)
2. Heusler F. (1903). "ber magnetische Manganlegierungen" (http://www.archive.org/stream
/verhandlungende33unkngoog/verhandlungende33unkngoog_djvu.txt). Verhandlungen der Deutschen
Physikalischen Gesellschaft (in German) 12: 219.
3. Knowlton A.A. and Clifford O.C. (1912). "The Heusler alloys". Trans. Faraday Soc. 8: 195206.
doi:10.1039/TF9120800195 (https://dx.doi.org/10.1039%2FTF9120800195).
4. Bozorth, Richard M. (1993). Ferromagnetism. Wiley-VCH. p. 201. ISBN 0-7803-1032-2.
5. Bradley A.J. and Rogers J.W. (1934). "The Crystal Structure of the Heusler Alloys". Proc. Roy. Soc. A144 (852):
340359. Bibcode:1934RSPSA.144..340B (http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1934RSPSA.144..340B).
doi:10.1098/rspa.1934.0053 (https://dx.doi.org/10.1098%2Frspa.1934.0053).

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6. Nesterenko Y.H.G., Osipenko I.A. and Firstov S.A. (1969). Fiz. Metal. Metalloved. (in Russian) 27: 135. Missing
or empty |title= (help)
7. Ohoyama T., Webster P.J. and Williams K.C. (1968). "The ordering temperature of Cu2MnAl". J. Phys. D 1 (7):
951. Bibcode:1968JPhD....1..951O (http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1968JPhD....1..951O). doi:10.1088/0022-3727
/1/7/421 (https://dx.doi.org/10.1088%2F0022-3727%2F1%2F7%2F421).
8. West D.R.F. and Lloyd Thomas D. (1956). "The constitution of copper rich alloys of the copper-manganese-
aluminum system". Journal of Industrial Metals 85: 97.
9. Johnston G.B. and Hall E.O. (1968). "Studies on the Heusler alloysI. Cu2MnAl and associated structures". J.
Phys. Chem. Solids 29 (2): 193, 201. Bibcode:1968JPCS...29..193J (http://adsabs.harvard.edu
/abs/1968JPCS...29..193J). doi:10.1016/0022-3697(68)90062-0 (https://dx.doi.org
/10.1016%2F0022-3697%2868%2990062-0).
10. Oxley D.P., Tebble R.S. and Williams K.C. (1963). "Heusler Alloys". J. Appl. Phys. 34 (4): 1362.
Bibcode:1963JAP....34.1362O (http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1963JAP....34.1362O). doi:10.1063/1.1729511
(https://dx.doi.org/10.1063%2F1.1729511).
11. Endo K., Ohoyama T., and Kimura R. (1964). "On the Magnetic Moment of Mn in Aluminum Heusler Alloy". J.
Phys. Soc. Japan 19 (8): 14941495. doi:10.1143/JPSJ.19.1494 (https://dx.doi.org/10.1143%2FJPSJ.19.1494).
12. Geldart D.J.W. and Ganguly P. (1970). "Hyperfine Fields and Curie Temperatures of the Heusler Alloys
Cu2MnAl, Cu2MnIn, and Cu2MnSn". Physical Review B1 (7): 3101. Bibcode:1970PhRvB...1.3101G
(http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1970PhRvB...1.3101G). doi:10.1103/PhysRevB.1.3101 (https://dx.doi.org
/10.1103%2FPhysRevB.1.3101).
13. Lapworth A.J. and Jakubovics J.P. (1974). "Effect of antiphase boundaries on the magnetic properties of
Cu-Mn-Al Heusler alloys". Phil. Mag. 29 (2): 253. Bibcode:1974PMag...29..253L (http://adsabs.harvard.edu
/abs/1974PMag...29..253L). doi:10.1080/14786437408213271 (https://dx.doi.org
/10.1080%2F14786437408213271).
14. . doi:10.1016/j.jmmm.2008.003 (https://dx.doi.org/10.1016%2Fj.jmmm.2008.003). Missing or empty |title=
(help)
15. Kumar, K. Ramesh; Bharathi, K. Kamala; Chelvane, J. Arout; Venkatesh, S.; Markandeyulu, G.; Harishkumar, N.
(2009). "First-Principles Calculation and Experimental Investigations on Full-Heusler Alloy Co2FeGe". IEEE
Transactions on Magnetics 45 (10): 3997. Bibcode:2009ITM....45.3997K (http://adsabs.harvard.edu
/abs/2009ITM....45.3997K). doi:10.1109/TMAG.2009.2022748 (https://dx.doi.org
/10.1109%2FTMAG.2009.2022748).

Further reading
Elert, Glenn. "Ferromagnetism" (http://hypertextbook.com/physics/electricity/ferromagnetism/). The
Physics Hypertextbook.
G. Sauthoff: Intermetallics, Wiley-VCH, Weinheim 1995, S. 83 u. 90.
T. Block, M. J. Carey, B. A. Gurney, O. Jepsen (2004). "Band-structure calculations of the
half-metallic ferromagnetism and structural stability of full- and half-Heusler phases". Physical
Review 70 (20): 205114. Bibcode:2004PhRvB..70t5114B (http://adsabs.harvard.edu
/abs/2004PhRvB..70t5114B). doi:10.1103/PhysRevB.70.205114 (https://dx.doi.org
/10.1103%2FPhysRevB.70.205114).
PJ Webster (1969). "Heusler alloys". Contemporary Physics 10 (6): 559577.

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Heusler alloy - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heusler_alloy

Bibcode:1969ConPh..10..559W (http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1969ConPh..10..559W).
doi:10.1080/00107516908204800 (https://dx.doi.org/10.1080%2F00107516908204800).

External links
National Pollutant Inventory Copper and compounds fact sheet (http://www.npi.gov.au/database
/substance-info/profiles/27.html)

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Categories: Copper alloys Intermetallics Magnetic alloys Ferromagnetic materials Spintronics

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