Long-range atomic order and entropy change at the martensitic transformation in a Ni-Mn-In-Co metamagnetic shape memory alloy

The influence of the atomic order on the martensitic transformation entropy change has been studied in a Ni-Mn-In-Co metamagnetic shape memory alloy through the evolution of the transformation temperatures under high-temperature quenching and post-quench annealing thermal treatments. It is confirmed that the entropy change evolves as a consequence of the variations on the degree of L21 atomic order brought by thermal treatments, though, contrary to what occurs in ternary Ni-Mn-In, post-quench aging appears to be the most effective way to modify the transformation entropy in Ni-Mn-In-Co. It is also shown that any entropy change value between around 40 and 5 J/kgK can be achieved in a controllable way for a single alloy under the appropriate aging treatment, thus bringing out the possibility of properly tune the magnetocaloric effect.