Magnetostructural features of phase transitions in the Mn-=SUB=-1-x-=/SUB=-Co-=SUB=-x-=/SUB=-NiGe system Part 1. Experimental results

Abstract

Experimental studies of the magnetic and structural properties of solid solutions of the Mn1-xCoxNiGe system in a wide range of Co concentrations (0.05≤ x≤ 0.8), temperatures (5 K≤ x≤600 K) and magnetic fields (0.016 T≤ x≤ 13.5 T) have revealed a number of nontrivial magnetic and magnetocaloric features of this system. The latter include: 1) a change in the nature of magnetic phase transitions from magnetostructural transitions of the 1st order paramagnetism-antiferromagnetism (0.05≤ x≤ 0.15) to isostructural transitions of the 2nd order paramagnetism-ferromagnetism (0.15≤ x≤0.8) with a change in the concentration of Co ; 2) anomalous behavior of low-temperature regions of magnetization in weak magnetic fields; 3) a change in the saturation magnetization and the appearance of irreversible magnetic field-induced transitions at helium temperatures in strong magnetic fields. Keywords: irreversible magnetostructural first-order phase transition, helimagnetism, direct and inverse magnetocaloric effects.