Low temperature crystal structure of Ni-Mn-Ga alloys

Transmission electron microscope (TEM) observation at room temperature of the low temperature phase of Ni2.14Mn0.86Ga shows stress-induced 5 periodicity modulation along a pseudo-[111] cubic zone axis. On cooling to 173 K, the periodicity changes to 7. In stress-free areas, a [001] zone axis with new lattice parameters for the tetragonal phase was observed. The new lattice parameters are smaller by a factor of root 2 than the expected lattice parameters. A new model for the tetragonal compound Ni2MnGa and the non-stoichiometric phases was developed with the help of TEM data, X-ray powder diffraction measurements, and a computational simulation based on the X-ray powder diffraction patterns. (C) 1999 Published by Elsevier Science S.A. All rights reserved.