  Besides permitting an accurate determination of the
ferromagnetic-to-paramagnetic phase transition temperature and the
characteristic temperatures for the beginning and end of the growth of
martensite (austenite) phase at the expense of austenite (martensite) phase
while cooling (heating), the results of an extensive ac susceptibility, sound
velocity and internal friction investigation of the thermoelastic martensitic
transformation in melt-quenched (site-disordered) Ni55Fe20Al25 alloy provide a
clear experimental evidence for the following. Irreversible thermoelastic
changes (thermal hysteresis) occur in the austenite phase in the premartensitic
regime. In the heating cycle, the system retains the "memory" of the initiation
and subsequent growth of the martensitic phase (at the expense of the parent
austenite phase) that had taken place during the cooling cycle in the
austenite-martensite phase coexistence region. We report and discuss these
novel findings in this communication.
