The magnetic behavior and physical characterization of Cu-Mn-Al ferromagnetic shape memory alloy

Abstract

In this study, Cu-Al-Mn alloys with different weight percentages were fabricated by melting metal powders in an induction furnace under argon atmosphere and then by applying rapid solidification. Due to the changes of the alloy percentages after the casting processes, alloy rates were determined by using energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy results received from least three different zones. For five different samples, the alloy percentages were found as Cu-11.96%Al-3.21%Mn, Cu-14.09%Al-10.78%Mn, Cu-13.73%Al-13.12%Mn, Cu-13.44%Al-12.68%Mn and Cu-12.14%Al-15.67%Mn, respectively. The magnetic properties of CuAlMn alloys were investigated as a function of Mn concentration. From the measurements, two important properties were observed. One of them is the temperature-dependent behavior, which indicates that the Curie temperatures of the samples are high (they are in the range of 304-344 A degrees C). The other property is the saturation magnetization, which is highly dependent on the Mn concentration. Although the Mn atoms want to cluster and interact antiferromagnetically, it is observed that the saturation magnetization is increased with increasing Mn concentration in these alloys. From these observations, it is suggested that the magnetic interactions in our samples are mostly due to the Mn and Al centers.