The study of the Cu-Sn-In ternary system has become of great importance in recent years, due to new environmental regulations forcing to eliminate the use of Pb in bonding technologies for electronic devices. A key relevant issue concerns the intermetallic phases which grow in the bonding zone and are determining in their quality and performance. In this work, we focus in the η-phase (Cu2In or Cu6Sn5) that exists in both end binaries and as a ternary phase. We present a neutron diffraction study of the constitution and crystallography of a series of alloys around the 60 at.% Cu composition, and with In contents ranging from 0 to 25 at.%, quenched from 300\degreeC. The alloys were characterized by scanning electron microscopy, probe microanalysis and high-resolution neutron diffraction. The Rietveld refinement of neutron diffraction data allowed to improve the currently available model for site occupancies in the hexagonal η-phase in the binary Cu-Sn as well as in ternary alloys. For the first time, structural data is reported in the ternary Cu-Sn-In η-phase as a function of composition, information that is of fundamental technological importance as well as valuable input data for ongoing modelisations of the ternary phase diagram.
The diffraction peaks of Zircaloy-2 and Zr-2.5%Nb alloys at various deformations are found to be asymmetric in nature. In order to characterize the microstructure from these asymmetric peaks of these deformed alloys, X-Ray Diffraction Line Profile Analysis like Williamson-Hall technique, Variance method based on second and fourth order restricted moments and Stephens model based on anisotropic strain distribution have been adopted. The domain size and dislocation density have been evaluated as a function of deformation for both these alloys. These techniques are useful where the dislocation st…
Ga(In, Al)N alloys are used as an active layer or cladding layer in light emitting diodes and laser diodes. x-ray diffraction is extensively used to evaluate the crystalline quality, the chemical composition and the residual strain in Ga(Al,In)N thin films, which directly determine the emission wavelength and the device performance. Due to the minor mismatch in lattice parameters between Ga(Al, In)N alloy and a GaN virtual substrate, x-ray diffraction comes to a problem to separate the signal from Ga(Al,In)N alloy and GaN. We give a detailed comparison on different diffraction planes. In order…
The cyclic deformation behavior of extruded Mg-8.5wt.%Al alloy with a conventional extrusion texture and a modified texture is systematically investigated by in-situ neutron diffraction and elastic viscoplastic self-consistent (EVPSC) modeling incorporating a twinning/de-twinning (TDT) scheme. The role of twinning and de-twinning on the deformation behavior of Mg-8.5wt.% Al alloy is investigated in terms of the macroscopic stress-strain response, the evolution of the activities of various deformation mechanisms, the texture evolution, the evolution of the internal elastic strains, and the evol…
Different techniques of the X-ray Diffraction Line Profile Analysis (XRDLPA) have been used to assess the microstructure of the irradiated Zr-1.0%Nb-1.0%Sn-0.1%Fe alloy. The domain size, microstrain, density of dislocation and the stacking fault probabilities of the irradiated alloy have been estimated as a function of dose by the Williamson-Hall Technique, Modified Rietveld Analysis and the Double Voigt Method. A clear signature in the increase in the density of dislocation with the dose of irradiated was revealed. The analysis also estimated the average density of dislocation in the major sl…
Neutron diffraction and ab initio studies were carried out on Mn2V1-xCoxGa (x=0, 0.25, 0.5, 0.75, 1) Heusler alloys which exhibits high TC fully compensated ferrimagnetic characteristic for x=0.5. A combined analysis of neutron diffraction and ab initio calculations revealed the crystal structure and magnetic configuration which could not be determined from the X-ray diffraction and magnetic measurements. As reported earlier, Rietveld refinement of neutron diffraction data confirmed L21 structure for Mn2VGa and Xa structure for Mn2CoGa. The alloys with x=0.25 and 0.5 possess L21 structure with…
Two phase titanium alloys are important for high performance engineering components, such as aeroengine discs. The microstructures of these alloys are tailored during thermomechanical processing to precisely control phase factions, morphology and crystallographic orientations. In bimodal two phase (α + β) Ti-6Al-2Sn-4Zr-2Mo (Ti-6242) alloys there are often three microstructural lengthscales to consider: large (~10 μm) equiaxed primary α; >200 nm thick plate α with a basketweave morphology; and very fine scaled (>50 nm plate thickness) secondary α that grows between the larger α plates surround…
The performance of Heusler based magnetoresistive multilayer devices depends crucially on the spin polarization and thus on the structural details of the involved surfaces. Using low energy electron diffraction (LEED), one can non-destructively distinguish between important surface terminations of Co2XY full-Heusler alloys. We present an analysis of the LEED patterns of the Y-Z ,the vacancy-Z, the Co and the disordered B2 and A2 terminations. As an example, we show that the surface geometries of bulk L21 ordered Co2MnSi and bulk B2 disordered Co2Cr0.6Fe0.4Al can be determined by comparing the …
Bimetallic catalysts can undergo segregation or redistribution of the metals driven by oxidizing and reducing environments. Bragg coherent diffraction imaging (BCDI) was used to relate displacement fields to compositional distributions in crystalline Pt-Rh alloy nanoparticles. 3D images of internal composition showed that the radial distribution of compositions reverses partially between the surface shell and the core when gas flow changes between O2 and H2. Our observation suggests that the elemental segregation of nanoparticle catalysts should be highly active during heterogeneous catalysis …
The authors developed a new analysis technique for atomic disorder structures in full-Heusler alloys using x-ray diffraction (XRD) with Co-Ka and Cu-Ka sources. The developed technique can quantitatively evaluate all the atomic disorders for the exchanges between X, Y, and Z atoms in full-Heusler X2YZ alloys. In particular, the technique can treat the DO3 disorder that cannot be analyzed by ordinary Cu-Ka XRD. By applying this technique to full-Heusler Co2FeSi alloy thin films formed by rapid thermal annealing (RTA), RTA-temperature (TA) dependence of the atomic disorders was revealed. The sit…
In this paper, we present temperature and field dependent neutron diffraction (ND) study to unravel the structural and the magnetic properties in Ni50Mn38Sb12 Heusler system. This alloy shows martensitic transition from high temperature austenite cubic phase to low temperature martensite orthorhombic phase on cooling. At 3 K, the lattice parameters and magnetic moments are found to be almost insensitive to field. Just below the martensitic transition temperature, the martensite phase fraction is found to be 85%. Upon applying the field, the austenite phase becomes dominant, and the field induc…
Here we analyze a three-dimensional distribution of crystallographic slip measured in-situ during the uniaxial deformation of hexagonal Ti-7Al. The slip field is reconstructed using a novel methodology that combines spatially resolved lattice orientation fields and grain-averaged stresses measured using high-energy X-ray diffraction microscopy (HEDM) with crystal plasticity. Analysis is performed to explore lattice orientation dependence, stress dependence, and connectivity (network relationships) of grains experiencing elevated amounts of slip. Elevated slip is found to be primarily associate…
Hydrogen is an efficient energy carrier that can be produced from renewable sources, enabling the transition towards CO2-free energy. Hydrogen can be stored for a long period in the solid-state, with suitable alloys. Ti-rich TiFe0.90 compound exhibits a mild activation process for the first hydrogenation, and Ti(Fe,Mn)0.90 substituted alloys can lead to the fine tuning of equilibrium pressure as a function of the final application. In this study, the crystal structure of TiFe(0.90-x)Mnx alloys (x = 0, 0.05 and 0.10) and their deuterides has been determined by in-situ neutron diffraction, while…
In this work we present an experimental study of structure and phase stability in ternary Cu-Sn-In alloys around 55 at.% Cu in the temperature range 100^{\circ}C < T < 550^{\circ}C. We have followed in real-time the sequence of phase transformations in succesive heating and cooling ramps, using state-of-the-art neutron powder thermodiffractometry. These experiments were complemented with calorimetric studies of the same alloys. Our results give experimental support to the current assessment of the ternary phase diagram in this composition and temperature range, yielding the sequence of transit…
Using X-ray micro-diffraction and surface acoustic wave spectroscopy, we measure lattice swelling and elastic modulus changes in a W-1%Re alloy after implantation with 3110 appm of helium. A fraction of a percent observed lattice expansion gives rise to an order of magnitude larger reduction in the surface acoustic wave velocity. A multiscale elasticity, molecular dynamics, and density functional theory model is applied to the interpretation of observations. The measured lattice swelling is consistent with the relaxation volume of self-interstitial and helium-filled vacancy defects that domina…
New perspective cubic quasi-alloys CdO/MgO short period superlattices were grown on sapphire substrates by plasma assisted molecular beam epitaxy. Their crystal quality was characterized using High Resolution X-ray Diffraction (HRXRD) and Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) techniques. The thickness and growth rate of MgO and CdO individual layers have been extracted. Small angle X-ray diffraction peaks corresponding to the period of the superlattices ranging from 0.6 to 5 nm were clearly observed. From the XRD measurements we obtain 65% relaxation to the substrate of superlattice (SL) in S…
Corrosion is a major concern for many industries, as corrosive environments can induce structural and morphological changes that lead to material dissolution and accelerate material failure. The progression of corrosion depends on nanoscale morphology, stress, and defects present. Experimentally monitoring this complex interplay is challenging. Here we implement in situ Bragg coherent X-ray diffraction imaging (BCDI) to probe the dissolution of a Co-Fe alloy microcrystal exposed to hydrochloric acid (HCl). By measuring five Bragg reflections from a single isolated microcrystal at ambient condi…
A dodecagonal quasicrystal showing 12-fold symmetry forms in Mn-rich quaternary alloys containing 5.5 or 7.5 at.% Cr, 5.0 at.% Ni and 17.5 at.% Si. After annealing at 700 C for 130 h, the quasicrystal precipitated in a matrix of \b{eta}-Mn type crystalline phase. The shape of the quasicrystal is needle-like having a length of several tens of micrometers. Electron diffraction as well as powder X-ray diffraction experiments have revealed the following characteristics of the quasicrystal; diffraction symmetry 12/mmm, presence of systematic extinction for h1h2h2h1h5 type reflections with odd h5 in…
The mechanical properties of polycrystalline metals are governed by the interaction of defects that are generated by deformation within the 3D microstructure. In materials that deform by slip, the plasticity is usually highly heterogeneous within the microstructure. Many experimental tools can be used to observe the results of slip events at the free surface of a sample; however, there are only a few methods for imaging these events in the bulk. In this article, the imaging of bulk slip events within the 3D microstructure are enabled by the combined use of X-ray diffraction contrast tomography…
A method for crystallographic mapping of an alpha-beta titanium alloy with nanometre resolution using scanning precession electron diffraction and open-source software libraries
A generalized model to study dislocation loops growth in irradiated binary Zr-based alloys is presented. It takes into account temperature effects, efficiencies of loops to absorb point defects dependent on the loop size, an influence of locality of grain boundary sink strength, and concentration of the alloying element. This model is used to describe the dynamics of loop radii growth in zirconium-niobium alloys under neutron irradiation at reactor conditions. A growth of both loop radii and strains is studied at different grain sizes, location from grain boundaries, and concentration of niobi…
Ageing mechanisms of the U-7\%wtNb alloy have been investigated on samples exposed to temperatures of 150$^{o}$C for up to 5000\,hours. A variety of surface and bulk analytic techniques have been used to investigate microstructural, chemical and crystallographic changes. Characterisation of the alloy's evolving behaviour was carried out through secondary electron microscopy, energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy, electron backscatter diffraction, transmission electron microscopy and x-ray diffraction. Vickers hardness testing showed evidence of a strong thermal hardening relationship with agein…
We report the structural, magnetic, and magnetocaloric properties of Co$_2$Cr$_{1-x}$Ti$_x$Al ($x=$ 0--0.5) Heusler alloys for spintronic and magnetic refrigerator applications. Room temperature X-ray diffraction and neutron diffraction patterns along with Rietveld refinements confirm that the samples are of single phase and possess a cubic structure. Interestingly, magnetic susceptibly measurements indicate a second order phase transition from paramagnetic to ferromagnetic where the Curie temperature (T$_{\rm C}$) of Co$_2$CrAl increases from 330~K to 445~K with Ti substitution. Neutron powde…
We applied the clustering technique using DTW (dynamic time wrapping) analysis to XRD (X-ray diffraction) spectrum patterns in order to identify the microscopic structures of substituents introduced in the main phase of magnetic alloys. The clustering is found to perform well to identify the concentrations of the substituents with successful rates (around 90%). The sufficient performance is attributed to the nature of DTW processing to filter out irrelevant informations such as the peak intensities (due to the incontrollability of diffraction conditions in polycrystalline samples) and the unif…
Combining the augmented space representation for phonons with a generalized version of Yonezawa-Matsubara diagrammatic technique, we have set up a formalism to seperate the coherent and incoherent part of the total intensity of thermal neutron scattering from disordered alloys. This is done exacly without taking any recourse to mean-field like approximation (as done previously). The formalism includes disorder in masses, force constants and scattering lengths. Implementation of the formalism to realistic situations is performed by an augmented space Block recursion which calculates entire Gree…
Understanding the creep mechanisms and deformation response at different stresses and temperatures is crucial for design using nickel-base superalloys for high-temperature applications. In this study, the creep behaviour of a newly designed superalloy (nominated Alloy 11) at different stress and temperature was systematically investigated using SEM, STEM, EBSD and synchrotron X-ray diffraction. Material properties and mechanical response were analysed by considering such properties as lattice parameters and misfit, phase volume fraction, microstrain in reference and crept samples. Detwinning a…
Kinetics of crystallization of two amorphous alloys, Fe70Cr10B20 and Fe80Zr10B10, have been followed up by neutron thermodiffractometry experiments performed in the two axis diffractometer D20 (ILL, Grenoble). The structural changes are directly correlated with the temperature dependence of the magnetization. Fe70Cr10B20 crystallizes following a two-step process: an eutectic crystallization of alfa-Fe (bcc) and the metastable tetragonal phase (Fe0.8Cr0.2)3B followed by another eutectic transformation to the stable phase (Fe0.75Cr0.25)2B and more segregation of alfa-Fe. These tetragonal phases …
Effect of Niobium Doping on the Crystal Structure and Hydrogen Sorption Properties of TiFe: Combined Synchrotron X-ray Diffraction and Extended X-ray Absorption Fine Structure Study
University of Stavanger（斯塔万格大学）；Institute for Energy Technology（能源技术研究所）
Poly- and single-crystal thin films of U-Mo alloys have been grown both on glass and sapphire substrates by UHV magnetron sputtering. X-ray and Electron Backscatter Diffraction data indicate that for single-crystal U1-xMox alloys, the pure cubic uranium gamma-phase exists for x > 0.22 (10 wt.% Mo). Below 10 wt.% Mo concentration, the resulting thin film alloys exhibited a mixed alpha-gamma uranium phase composition.
We report on the discovery of a high-entropy alloy with a hexagonal crystal structure. Equiatomic samples in the alloy system Ho-Dy-Y-Gd-Tb were found to solidify as homogeneous single-phase high-entropy alloys. The results of our electron diffraction investigations and high-resolution scanning transmission electron microscopy are consistent with a Mg-type hexagonal structure. The possibility of hexagonal high-entropy alloys in other alloy systems is discussed.
Ageing mechanisms of the U-5\,\%wtNb system have been investigated on samples exposed to temperatures of 150$\,^{\circ}$C for up to 5000\,hours. A variety of surface and bulk analytic techniques have been used to investigate phase, chemical and crystallographic changes. Characterisation of microstructural evolution was carried out through secondary electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy (EDS), electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and x-ray diffraction (XRD). This investigation suggests crystallographic defects such as twinning…
The frst neutron powder diffraction based atomic pair distribution functions (PDFs) are reported from the new wide angular-range chopper spectrometer ARCS at the Spallation Neutron Source at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The spectrometer was run in white-beam mode, with no Fermi chopper. The PDF patterns of Si, Ni, and Al2O3 were refined using the PDFfit method and the results compared to data collected at the NPDF diffractometer at Los Alamos National Laboratory. The resulting fits are of high quality demonstrating that quantitatively reliable powder diffraction data can be obtained from ARC…
Direct Observation of Chemical Short-Range Order in CoCrNi Alloy Using Neutron Diffraction
Federal University of São Carlos (UFSCar)（圣卡洛斯联邦大学）；Université Paris-Saclay, CEA（巴黎萨克雷大学，法国原子能和替代能源委员会）；University of Sheffield（谢菲尔德大学）；Massachusetts Institute of Technology（麻省理工学院）；AF Research Laboratory, Materials and Manufacturing Directorate, Wright-Patterson AFB（空军研究实验室材料制造局赖特-帕特森空军基地）
Identifying the operative mode of phase separation (spinodal decomposition (SD) or nucleation-growth (NG)) remains a largely unexplored area of research in spite of its importance. The present work examines this critically in Fe-Cr system using atom probe tomography (APT) and small angle neutron scattering (SANS), and establishes the framework to distinguish the two different modes of alpha-prime phase separation in thermally aged Fe-35 at.% Cr and Fe-20 at.% Cr alloys. Independent APT analysis determines the mode of phase separation on the basis of: (i) presence / absence of periodic chemical…
Well-known Kato's theory of the Laue diffraction of spherical x-ray waves is generalized to the case of the neutron diffraction in strongly absorbing crystals, taking into consideration both the potential and the resonant scattering of neutrons by nuclei as well as a realistic angular dispersion of incident neutrons. The saddle-point method is applied for estimation of the angular integrals, being more adequate in the case of strongly absorbing crystals than the usually used stationary-phase approximation. It is found that the intensity distribution of the diffracted and refracted beams along …
Neutron scattering and ultrasonic methods have been used to study the lattice dynamics of two single crystals of Ni-Mn-In Heusler alloys close to Ni$_{50}$Mn$_{34}$In$_{16}$ magnetic superelastic composition. The paper reports the experimental determination of the low-lying phonon dispersion curves and the elastic constants for this alloy system. We found that the frequencies of the TA$_{2}$ branch are relatively low and it exhibits a small dip anomaly at a wave number $ξ_{0} \approx 1/3$, which softens with decreasing temperature. Associated with the softening of this phonon, we also observed…
Zirconium based alloys have been irradiated with 11 and 15 MeV proton and 116 MeV oxygen ions at different doses. The changes in the microstructure have been studied for the ion irradiated alloys as a function of dose using X-Ray Diffraction Line Profile Analysis (XRDLPA) based on the whole powder pattern fitting technique. It was observed that the microstructural parameters like domain size, microstrain within the domain, dislocation density did not change significantly with the increase in dose for proton irradiated samples. A clear change was noticed in these microstructural parameters as a…
Phase selection in Ti-Zr-Hf-Al high-entropy alloys was investigated by in-situ high-energy X$-$ray diffraction, single-crystal X$-$ray diffraction, and density-functional theory based electronic-structure methods that address disorder and vacancies, predicting formation enthalpy and chemical short-range order (SRO). Samples with varying Al content were synthesized, characterized, and computationally assessed to ascertain the composition-dependent phase selection, as increased Al content often acts as a stabilizer of a body-centered-cubic structure. Equiatomic TiZrHfAl was especially interestin…
The Lead-iron-niobate, (PbFe0.5Nb0.5O3 or PFN) was synthesized by low temperature sintering Single Step / Solid State Reaction Method. The 700 C / 2 hrs calcined powder was sintered at 1050 C / 1 hr. The sintered pellets were characterized through X-Ray Diffraction and Neutron Diffraction at room temperature. It is found from the XRD pattern that the materials is in single phase with no traces of pyrochlore phase. It was also confirmed from the neutron diffraction pattern, the structure of PFN to be monoclinic, belongs to space group C m. Structural studies has been carried out by refining the…
Spatially resolved neutron diffraction as a function of crystal depth in Pb(Mg$_{1/3}$Nb$_{2/3}$)O$_{3}$ reveals the presence of a distinct near-surface region. A dramatic change in both the lattice constant and the Bragg peak intensity as a function of crystal depth is observed to occur in this region over a length scale $\sim$ 100 $μ$m. This confirms a previous assertion, based on a comparison between high-energy x-rays and neutrons, that such a near surface region exists in the relaxors. Consequences to both single crystal and powder diffraction measurements and previous bulk neutron diffra…
The theory of magnetic symmetry in quasicrystals is used to characterize the nature of magnetic peaks, expected in elastic neutron diffraction experiments. It is established that there is no symmetry-based argument which forbids the existence of quasiperiodic long-range magnetic order. Suggestions are offered as to where one should look for the simplest kinds of antiferromagnetic quasicrystals.
The different contributions to the entropy change linked to the austenite-martensitic transition in a Ni-Mn-Sn metamagnetic shape memory alloy have been determined by combining different experimental techniques. The vibrational contribution has been inferred from the vibrational density of states of both the martensitic and austenite phases. This has been accomplished by combining time-of-flight neutron scattering measurements and ab-initio calculations. Further, the electronic part of the entropy change has also been calculated. Since the martensitic transformation takes place between two par…
An amorphous Se$_{0.80}$S$_{0.20}$ alloy produced by Mechanical Alloying was studied by Raman spectroscopy, x-ray diffraction, extended x-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) and optical absorption spectroscopy, and also through reverse Monte Carlo simulations of its total structure factor and EXAFS data. Its vibrational modes, optical gap and structural properties as average interatomic distances and average coordination numbers were determined and compared to those found for an amorphous Se$_{0.90}$S$_{0.10}$ alloy. The results indicate that coordination numbers, interatomic distances and a…
We report on a polarized-neutron Laue diffraction experiment on a single crystal of neodynium doped lanthanum magnesium nitrate hydrate containing polarized proton spins. By using dynamic nuclear polarization to polarize the proton spins, we demonstrate that the intensities of the Bragg peaks can be enhanced or diminished significantly, whilst the incoherent background, due to proton spin disorder, is reduced. It follows that the method offers unique possibilities to tune continuously the contrast of the Bragg reflections and thereby represents a new tool for increasing substantially the signa…
In this study Mo-Nb-Ta-W refractory high-entropy alloys (R-HEAs) have been studied for their phase stability for a wide temperature range (100 K to 2000 K). The equilibrium thermodynamic phases are determined by the changes in enthalpy and entropy. The enthalpy changes at any temperature are simulated by embedded atom method (EAM) potential based hybrid Monte Carlo molecular dynamics (MC/MD) simulations. Configurational entropy was calculated by quasichemical method. The EAM potentials were all calculated based on the physical input parameters of elements like atomic volume, cohesive energy, e…
A neutron powder diffraction study has been carried out on Pb(Zr0.52Ti0.48)O3 in order to resolve an ongoing controversy about the nature of the low-temperature structure of this strongly-piezoelectric and technologically-important material. The results of a detailed and systematic Rietveld analysis at 20 K are consistent with the coexistence of two monoclinic phases having space groups Cm and Ic respectively, in the approximate ratio 4:1, and thus support the findings of a recent electron diffraction study by Noheda et al. [Phys. Rev. B 66, 060103 (2002)]. The results are compared to those of…
7M orthorhombic modulated structure in the martensite phase of Ni1.8Pt0.2MnGa is reported by powder neutron diffraction study, which indicates that it is likely to exhibit magnetic field induced strain. The change in the unit cell volume is less than 0.5% between the austenite and martensite phases, as expected for a volume conserving martensite transformation. The magnetic structure analysis shows that the magnetic moment in the martensite phase is higher compared to Ni2MnGa, which is in good agreement with magnetization measurement.
The Laves phase skeleton in cast Mg-Al-Ca alloys is known to provide considerable strengthening. Laves phases such as CaMg$_2$ (C14), Ca(Al,Mg)$_2$ (C36), and CaAl2 (C15) have high melting points, high hardness at room and elevated temperatures, but unfortunately are inherently brittle. Mg-Al-Ca alloys thus have good creep properties but limited ductility. An understanding of the co-deformation behaviour of $α$-Mg and Laves phases is essential for optimising the strength-ductility balance of these alloys. Here, we study the mechanical behaviour of a Mg-4.65Al-2.82Ca alloy using micropillar com…
We report on the evolution of the magnetic structure of BiFeO3 thin films grown on SrTiO3 substrates as a function of Sm doping. We determined the magnetic structure using neutron diffraction. We found that as Sm increases, the magnetic structure evolves from a cycloid to a G-type antiferromagnet at the morphotropic phase boundary, where there is a large piezoelectric response due to an electric-field induced structural transition. The occurrence of the magnetic structural transition at the morphotropic phase boundary offers another route towards room temperature multiferroic devices.
The complex perovskite Ba2CoTeO6 (BCTO) has been synthesised, and the crystal structure and magnetic properties have been investigated using a combination of X-ray and neutron powder diffraction, electron microscopy and dielectric, calorimetric and magnetic measurements. It was shown that at room temperature this compound adopts the 6L-trigonal perovskite structure, space group P-3m (N 164) (a= 5.7996(1)Å, c=14.2658(3)Å). The structure comprises dimers of face-sharing octahedra as well as octahedra which share only vertices with their neighbours. A long-range antiferromagnetically ordered stat…
Neutron diffraction measurements, performed in presence of an external magnetic field, have been used to show structural evidence for the kinetic arrest of the first-order phase transition from the high temperature austenite phase to the low temperature martensite phase in the magnetic shape memory alloy Ni37Co11Mn42.5Sn9.5 and the formation of a glass-like arrested state (GLAS). The CHUF (cooling and heating under unequal fields) protocol has been used to establish phase coexistence of metastable and equilibrium states of GLAS in the neutron diffraction patterns. We also explore the field-tem…
Investigation of transport and magnetic properties of MnTe at low temperatures sInvestigation of transport and magnetic properties of MnTe at low temperatures showed anomalies like negative coefficient of resistance below 100K and a sharp rise in susceptibility at around 83K similar to a ferromagnetic transition. Low temperature powder neutron diffraction experiments were therefore carried out to understand the underlying phenomena responsible for such anomalous behavior. Our study indicates that the rise in susceptibility at low temperatures is due to strengthening of ferromagnetic interactio…
This article presents a brief overview of our recent work on the nature of long period modulation in the premartensite and martensite phases of Ni2MnGa ferromagnetic shape memory alloy using high resolution synchrotron x-ray powder diffraction patterns. The commensurate structure model using the Pnnm space group is unable to account for the peak positions of the satellite reflections that appear due to modulations correctly. LeBail and Rietveld refinements using the (3+1)-D super space group $Immm(00γ)s00$ show that the peak positions of all the reflections, including the satellites, can be ex…
