Martensitic transformation in Cu-doped NiMnGa magnetic shape memory alloys

This paper studies the martensitic transformation in the Cu-doped NiMnGa alloys. The orthorhombic martensite transforms to L2₁ cubic austenite by Cu substituting for Ni in the Ni_50-xCu_xMn₃₁Ga₁₉ (x=2-10) alloys, the martensitic transformation temperature decreases significantly with the rate of 40 K per Cu atom addition. The variation of the Fermi sphere radius (k_F) is applied to evaluate the change of the martensitic transformation temperature. The increase of k_F leads to the increase of the martensitic transformation temperature.