Eur. Phys. J. Plus (2016) 131: 156
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjp/i2016-16156-9

Regular Article

Magnetocaloric effect over a wide temperature range due to multiple magnetic transitions in GdNi_0.8Al_1.2 alloy

¹ Department of Physics, National Institute of Technology, 620 0015, Tiruchirappalli, India
² Faculty of Humanities and Natural Sciences, Presov University, Presov, Slovakia

^* e-mail: nagaphys@yahoo.com

Received: 2 February 2016
Accepted: 7 April 2016
Published online: 20 May 2016

Abstract

The magnetic properties, magnetocaloric effect (MCE) and refrigerant capacity (RC) of the novel polycrystalline GdNi_0.8Al_1.2 alloy are investigated. The temperature dependence of magnetization exhibits multiple magnetic transitions at K, K and K thereby displaying a complex magnetic behaviour. The magnetocaloric effect is calculated in terms of the magnetic entropy change (), from isothermal magnetization data using Maxwell relations. The maximum magnetic entropy change at major transitions is 9.15 J kg^-1K^-1 (for a field change of 0-9 T) and 4.20 Jkg^-1K^-1 (0-5 T) and at is 1.10 Jkg^-1K^-1 (0-9 T) and 0.67 Jkg^-1K^-1 (0-5 T). The overlap of the two peaks expeditiously expand the working temperature range of this material with substantial MCE which in turn yields moderate RC value of 120 J/kg for a field change of 0-5T. These results suggest that the GdNi_0.8Al_1.2 alloy may be a meaningful candidate for magnetic refrigeration working in a wide temperature range.