Crystal structure, magnetic and transport characteristics of Ni2-xMn1+xSn series have been studied with the emphasis on chemical disorder effects. It was shown that the structure and disorder character in these series can be predicted by using chemical intuitive rules. Ni2MnSn is ferromagnetic with L21 structure type but by increasing x, Ni and Mn randomly mix and occupy the heterocubic sites of the L21 type and the magnetic structure becomes ferrimagnetic. First-principle calculations based on the CPA alloy theory is able to predict magnetic and electrical properties in good agreement with the experimental dat [1].
Figure 1: Neutron powder pattern of Ni1.2Mn1.8Sn at 23 K (left). Saturation magnetization msat at 1.8 K from magnetometry and theoretically calculated at 0 K for the Ni2-xMn1+xSn alloys.