On the proposed concept of mechanical phasons in Ni–Mn–Ga modulated martensite

We discuss modulation phasons as a possible source of unusual elastic behavior of five-layer modulated (10 M) martensite of the Ni–Mn–Ga shape memory alloy. This material exhibits anomalous macroscopic shear compliance along specific planes perpendicular to the modulation vector, and this compliance disappears when the modulations become incommensurate. Using a simple mechanical model, we show that modulation phasons in Ni–Mn–Ga can have macroscopic mechanical manifestations and that the resulting ‘mechanical phasons’ can relax external shear loadings for commensurate and weakly incommensurate modulations, but not for strongly incommensurate modulations. The model merges ideas from the adaptive martensite theory and electronic structure considerations and enables straightforward explanations of several properties of the 10 M lattice, such as spontaneous monoclinic distortion or easy formation and propagation of a / b twins.