Magnetic Properties of Intermediate Ni2-xMn1+xSb Full-Heusler Compounds

Abstract

Investigation of intermediate compounds of Heusler alloys has been the prime focus to study the various magnetic properties. We have successfully synthesized non-stoichiometric full- Heusler intermediate compounds of Ni2-xMn1+xSb (0.25≤x≤0.75) to investigate their magnetic properties. XRD analysis using Rietveld refinement reveals the presence of a single-phase of Cu2MnAl prototype full-Heusler phase. Transmission electron microscopy analysis also confirms the presence of a single phase of best optimized composition (Ni1.5Mn1.5Sb) of full-Heusler alloy. Interestingly, the saturated magnetic moments obtained from the M-H curves were found to be 4.45μB/f.u., 3.16μB/f.u. and 4.65μB/f.u. for Ni2-xMn1+xSb (x= 0.25, 0.5, 0.75) respectively which is the highest reported value (~4.65μB/f.u. for Ni1.25Mn1.75Sb) so far in this family of the compounds. Further, the reversibility of zero-field cooled (ZFC) and field cooled (FC) curves indicate that samples are stabilized in a magnetically homogeneous state. The first principle calculation performed on these materials is well corroborated with the experimental results. © 2021