Magnetic properties and martensitic transformation behaviors of NiCoMnAl metamagnetic shape memory alloys were investigated. The kinetic arrest phenomenon was observed at about 40 K during thermomagnetization measurements. At temperatures ranging from 4.2 to 200 K, magnetic field-induced reverse transformation was confirmed by a pulse magnetometer with a magnetic field up to 45 T. By plotting the equilibrium magnetic fields against the measured temperature, the transformation entropy change was calculated by using the ClausiusClapeyron equation. The transformation entropy change was found to become zero below 40 K, which can explain the appearance of the kinetic arrest phenomenon. An unusual type of ferromagnetic shape memory (SM) alloy has been recently found in Ni-Mn-X (X ¼ In, Sn, and Sb) Heusler alloys, 1) for which the parent phase shows much stronger magnetism than that of the martensite phase.2-5) As a result, during martensitic transformation a drastic change in magnetization can be observed in thermomagnetization measurement. In these alloys, the martensitic transformation temperatures drastically decrease with increasing magnetic field if the specimen is subjected to field cooling. Furthermore, a magnetic field-induced transformation, namely, metamagnetic phase transformation (MMPT), has also been reported in NiCoMnIn, 6) NiCoMnSn,
7)NiCoMnGa, 8) NiCoMnSb 9) and NiCoMnAl 10) alloys, and an almost perfect magnetic field-induced SM effect, that is, the metamagnetic SM effect, at room temperature has been confirmed in single crystalline Ni 45 Co 5 Mn 36:7 In 13:3 6,11) and polycrystalline Ni 43 Co 7 Mn 39 Sn 11 7) alloys. For NiCoMnAl alloys, it has also been reported that the grain boundaries have relatively high strength and that even polycrystalline samples can be subjected to compression and deformation. Additionally, due to its low cost, the potential for practical application has also been pointed out.Very recently, for