Determination of ordinary magnetostriction in Ni-Mn-Ga magnetic shape memory alloy

A saturation magnetostriction of five-layered modulated martensite (5 M) was determined from magnetization curves and by using direct measurements of the field-induced strain of strongly constrained single crystalline sample. The saturation magnetostriction of 5 M martensite was determined to be about 50 ppm. This is about five times smaller than previously reported. The error in determination of magnetostriction due to magnetic shape memory effect and due to the presence of residual martensitic variants with different crystalographic orientation is discussed.