Giant magnetocaloric effect in the Gd_5 Ge_(2.025)Si_(1.925)In_(0.05) compound

The magnetocaloric properties of the GdsGe2.025Si1.925In0.05 compound have been studied by x-ray diffraction, magnetic and heat capacity measurements. Powder x-ray diffraction measurement shows that the compound has a dominant phase of monoclinic Cd5Ge2Si2-type structure and a small quantity of Gds（Ge,Si）3-type phase at room temperature. At about 270 K, this compound shows a first order phase transition. The isothermal magnetic entropy change （△SM） is calculated from the temperature and magnetic field dependences of the magnetization and the temperature dependence of MCE in terms of adiabatic temperature change （△Tad） is calculated from the isothermal magnetic entropy change and the temperature variation in zero-field heat-capacity data. The maximum △SM is -13.6 J·kg^-1.K^- 1 and maximum ATad is 13 K for the magnetic field change of 0 5 T. The Debye temperature （θD） of this compound is 149 K and the value of DOS at the Fermi level is 1.6 states/eV.atom from the low temperature zero-field heat-capacity data. A considerable isothermal magnetic entropy change and adiabatic temperature change under a field change of 0-5 T jointly make the Gd5Ge2.025Si1.925In0.05 compound an attractive candidate for a magnetic refrigerant.

Research Advance on Magnetocaloric Effect of La-Fe-M(Al, Si) Compounds

Recent research progress on magnetocaloric effect of La-Fe-M (M = Al, Si) compounds was presented. La-Fe-M (M = Al, Si) compounds of high Fe content are excellent soft magnetic materials with NaZn13 structure. The Curie temperature of the compounds can be increased by substituting small amount of Co for Si, Al. The La(Fe1-xCoy)(x)Si13-x compounds with an appropriate ratio of Co and Si can produce giant magnetocaloric effect comparable to that for Gd5Si2Ge2 at room temperature. The La (FexSi1-x)(13) doped with H can also produce giant magnetocaloric effect at room temperature, which is much greater than that for Gd. For La (FexSi1-x)(13) compounds with low Si or high Si contents. The nature of phase transition near Curie temperature induced by temperature and magnetic field was described in detail.

Giant magnetocaloric effect in Tb_5Ge_(2-x)Si_(2-x)Mn_(2x) compounds

The crystal structure, magnetic and magnetocaloric characteristics of the pseduo ternary compounds of TbsGe2-xSi2-xMn2x （0 ≤ 2x ≤ 0.1） were investigated by x-ray powder diffraction and magnetization measurements. The x-ray powder diffraction results show that all compounds preserve the monoclinic phase as the majority phase and all the synthesized compounds were observed to be ferromagnetic from magnetization measurements. Magnetic phase transitions were interpreted in terms of Landau theory. Maximum isothermal magnetic entropy change value （20.84 J-kg-1 -K-1） was found for Tb5Ge1.95Si1.95Mn0.1 at around 123 K in the magnetic field change of 5T.

Influence of partial substitution of cerium for lanthanum on magnetocaloric properties of La_(1–x)Ce_xFe_(11.44)Si_(1.56) and their hydrides

The structure and magnetocaloric properties of La1–xCexFe11.44Si1.56 and their hydrides La1–xCexFe11.44Si1.56Hy（x=0, 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4） were investigated.The samples crystallized mainly in the cubic Na Zn13-type structure with a small amount of α-Fe phase as impurity.The lattice constants and Curie temperature presented the same change tendency with increasing of Ce content.For the hydrides, the influence of Ce content on lattice constants was weakened and the values of H concentration y were approximate to be 1.56.The La1–xCexFe11.44Si1.56 compounds exhibited large values of isothermal entropy change –ΔSm around the Curie temperature TC under a low magnetic field change of 1.5 T.The value of –ΔSm increased and then decreased with increasing Ce content, reached the maximum, 26.07 J/kg·K for x=0.3.TC increased up to the vicinity of room temperature by hydrogen absorption for the Ce substituted compounds, but TC only slightly decreased with increasing Ce content.The first-order metamagnetic transition was still kept in the hydrides and the maximum values of –ΔSm were lower than those of the La1–xCexFe11.44Si1.56 compounds, but still remained large values, about 10.5 J/kg K under a magnetic field change of 1.5 T.The values of –ΔSm were nearly independent of the Ce content and did not increase with increasing x for the hydrides.The La1–xCexFe11.44Si1.56Hy（x=0–0.4） hydrides exhibited large magnetic entropy changes, small hysteresis loss and effective refrigerant capacity covered the room temperature range from 305 to 317 K.These hydrides are very useful for the magnetic refrigeration applications near room temperature under low magnetic field change.