Invar-like Behavior of Antiperovskite Mn3+xNi1–xN Compounds

The antiperovskite Mn3+xNi1–xN compounds have been synthesized and characterized by a variety of experimental techniques. After Mn doping at the Ni site, both ferromagnetic characteristics and an Invar-like effect were observed in the antiferromagnetic host material. The observed Invar-like behavior was assumed to be related to the characteristic magnetic structure induced by the doping. Neutron diffraction results prove that the Mn doping stabilizes the special Γ5g antiferromagnetic phase with strong spin–lattice coupling that can be tuned to achieve Invar-like behavior. The magnetovolume effect (MVE) and significant correlation between spin and lattice were confirmed for the Γ5g magnetic phase by the first-principles calculations. Moreover, Mn 3d electrons were revealed to be the key factor for the MVE from the calculations. Our study presents a new mechanism for precisely controlling the zero thermal expansion of a single compound by achieving the special Γ5g magnetic phase of Mn atoms.