Phase transitions in Heusler alloys with exchange inversion

Phase diagrams of the Heusler Ni–Mn–X (X=In, Sn, Sb) alloys with exchange inversion are investigated. It is shown that a few different types of the phase diagrams depending on the signs of phenomenological parameters of the Ginzburg–Landau functional are obtained. In the diagrams there are thermodynamic paths, which can explain the experimentally observed sequences of the phase transitions in Ni–Mn–X alloys.