The magnetic shape-memory alloy Ni-Mn-Ga shows, in monocrystalline form, a reversible magnetic-field-induced strain (MFIS) up to 10%. This strain, which is produced by twin boundaries moving solely by internal stresses generated by magnetic anisotropy energy, can be used in actuators, sensors and energy-harvesting devices. Compared with monocrystalline Ni-Mn-Ga, fine-grained Ni-Mn-Ga is much easier to process but shows near-zero MFIS because twin boundary motion is inhibited by constraints imposed by grain boundaries. Recently, we showed that partial removal of these constraints, by introducing pores with sizes similar to grains, resulted in MFIS values of 0.12% in polycrystalline Ni-Mn-Ga foams, close to those of the best commercial magnetostrictive materials. Here, we demonstrate that introducing pores smaller than the grain size further reduces constraints and markedly increases MFIS to 2.0-8.7%. These strains, which remain stable over >200,000 cycles, are much larger than those of any polycrystalline, active material.

The off-stoichiometric Ni(2)MnGa Heusler alloy is a magnetic shape-memory alloy capable of reversible magnetic-field-induced strains (MFIS). These are generated by twin boundaries moving under the influence of an internal stress produced by a magnetic field through the magnetocrystalline anisotropy. While MFIS are very large (up to 10%) for monocrystalline Ni-Mn-Ga, they are near zero (<0.01%) in fine-grained polycrystals due to incompatibilities during twinning of neighboring grains and the resulting internal geometrical constraints. By growing the grains and/or shrinking the sample, the grain size becomes comparable to one or more characteristic sample sizes (film thickness, wire or strut diameter, ribbon width, particle diameter, etc), and the grains become surrounded by free space. This reduces the incompatibilities between neighboring grains and can favor twinning and thus increase the MFIS. This approach was validated recently with very large MFIS (0.2-8%) measured in Ni-Mn-Ga fibers and foams with bamboo grains with dimensions similar to the fiber or strut diameters and in thin plates where grain diameters are comparable to plate thickness. Here, we review processing, micro- and macrostructure, and magneto-mechanical properties of (i) Ni-Mn-Ga powders, fibers, ribbons and films with one or more small dimension, which are amenable to the growth of bamboo grains leading to large MFIS, and (ii) "constructs" from these structural elements (e.g., mats, laminates, textiles, foams and composites). Various strategies are proposed to accentuate this geometric effect which enables large MFIS in polycrystalline Ni-Mn-Ga by matching grain and sample sizes.

Magnetomechanical experiments were performed with a ferromagnetic Ni-Mn-Ga single crystal consisting of thermoelastic orthorhombic martensitic phase at room temperature. The crystal was deformed in uniaxial compression along ͗100͘ with an orthogonal magnetic field and without a magnetic field. The sample deforms due to motion of twin boundaries. When compressed with a magnetic field, twinning occurs at higher stress than without a magnetic field, and the twinning is reversible upon unloading. The stress-strain curves exhibit two plateaus which are related to two different twinning systems, namely (110)͓11 0͔ and (011)͓011 ͔. During cyclic experiments in a rotating magnetic field, the magnetic-field-induced strain increases from initially 6% to 9.7%. The latter value was repeatedly measured upon more than 1000 rotations of the field. The increase of magnetic-field-induced strain during magnetomechanical cycling is related to a transition from combined partial (110)͓11 0͔ and (011)͓011 ͔ twinning to complete (101)͓101 ͔ twinning. The magnetic anisotropy constants are obtained from an analysis of the magnetomechanical properties.

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A single-crystalline ferromagnetic Ni-Mn-Ga shape memory specimen was deformed in the martensitic state by uniaxial compression to a total strain of 2%. The stress-strain curve displays a yield point at 6 MPa followed by jerky flow. After mechanical deformation, magnetomechanical tests in a rotating magnetic field of constant strength as well as experiments in a magnetic field of variable strength and constant direction were performed. Upon field rotation, a cyclic-field-induced strain of 1.8% is obtained repeatedly. Upon repeated field variation with constant field direction, a large field-induced strain occurs only in the first test after a change of the field direction. The force of a magnetic field on a twinning dislocation and the resulting magnetostress are discussed. For small fields, the magnetic force is proportional to the applied field. Above the saturation field, the magnetic stress is constant and equals the ratio of the magnetic anisotropy constant and the twinning shear. A microscopic model relating large field-induced strain to the motion of twinning dislocations is presented and applied to the experiments. It is concluded that cyclic magnetic-field-induced strain can be obtained only by changing the field direction because the magnetic force cannot be reversed otherwise.

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