On the proposed concept of mechanical phasons in Ni-Mn-Ga modulated martensite
Petr Sedlák, Tomáš Grabec, Hanuš Seiner · arXiv · 2026
A mechanical model suggests that modulation phasons in Ni-Mn-Ga modulated martensite can produce macroscopic shear compliance for commensurate (and weakly incommensurate) modulations, but not for strongly incommensurate ones.
Plain English summary
Why this matters
Key findings
- Ni-Mn-Ga 10M modulated martensite shows anomalous macroscopic shear compliance along specific planes perpendicular to the modulation vector.
- The anomalous shear compliance disappears when modulations become incommensurate.
- A mechanical model indicates modulation phasons can have macroscopic mechanical manifestations ('mechanical phasons').
- Mechanical phasons can relax external shear loadings for commensurate and weakly incommensurate modulations, but not for strongly incommensurate modulations.
- The model provides explanations for 10M lattice properties such as spontaneous monoclinic distortion and easy a/b twin formation and propagation.
Limitations
The abstract presents a proposed concept and a simple mechanical model; it does not specify experimental validation, quantitative agreement, or broader material/system scope beyond Ni-Mn-Ga 10M modulated martensite.
Publication
- Publisher
- arXiv
- Publication date
- April 30, 2026
- Research type
- Preprint
- arXiv
- 2604.27729
- Access
- open
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