Magnetoelastic transitions (METs) in bulk in nearly equiatomic Fe-Rh alloys produced by arc melting may show poor reproducibility related to insufficient chemical homogeneity and presence of impurity phases in variable concentrations. To better understand the synthesis conditions that reliably yield bulk FeRh materials with reproducible MET characteristics, Fe100-xRhx alloys with x = 50, 50.5 and 51 at. % were prepared by induction melting and thermal annealing under identical conditions. The fabricated samples were cut into several slices, followed by characterization of METs in each of the slices using isothermal and isofield magnetization measurements, differential scanning calorimetry, and direct measurements of the magnetocaloric effect. All of the slices exhibit METs between the AFM and FM states, but the transitions are abrupt with nearly the same change of magnetization, ΔM, when x = 50.5 and 51, whereas for the x = 50 alloy the transition spreads over a wide temperature interval and ΔM may fluctuate by as much as 10 % from one specimen to another. A comparison of the magnetocaloric responses of x = 50 and 51 materials is presented. The clearly different effect of the magnetic field on the transition in both directions leads to significant differences in the reversibility and maximum values of the magnetic field-induced entropy and adiabatic temperature changes, as well as average hysteresis losses. In terms of reproducibility, our results suggest that induction melting is a more appropriate technique to prepare these binary alloys.

The influence of thermal cycling on the microstructure, magnetic phase transition and magnetic entropy change of a Gd5Si1.3Ge2.7 thin film up to 1000 cycles is investigated. The authors found that after 1000 cycles a strong reduction of the crystallographic phase responsible for the magnetostructural transition (Orthorhombic II phase) occurs. This is attributed to chemical disorder, caused by the large number of expansion/compression cycles that the Orthorhombic II phase undergoes across the magnetostructural transition. The suppression of the magnetostructural transition corresponds to a drastic decrease of the thin film magnetic entropy change. These results reveal the importance of studying the thermal/magnetic cycles influence on magnetostructural transitions as they can damage a real-life device.

We describe magnetic, thermal, and magnetocaloric properties of rare earth intermetallic compounds TmxDy1−xAl2 with 𝑥 = 0.25, 0.5 and 0.75. Using model Hamiltonian we consider contributions of the crystalline electric field anisotropy in both Tm and Dy magnetic sublattices, disorder in exchange interactions among Tm-Tm, Dy-Dy and Tm-Dy magnetic ions, and the Zeeman effect. Employing earlier reported and new experimental measurements, we first determine a single free variable – the intersublattice magnetic exchange parameter – to properly model the temperature and magnetic field dependencies of heat capacity and magnetization, and then use the modeling results to explain the emergence of an anomalous spin reorientation transition and its influence on the magnetocaloric effect in the title compounds. Theoretical results agree with experimental data reasonably well.

A multi-functional Gd5Si1.3Ge2.7 thin film deposited by pulsed laser ablation in the form of an ensemble of nanoparticles was studied for 18 thermal cycles via electron transport measurements together with structural and magnetic characterization. A general negative thermal dependency of the resistivity (ρ) is observed, which contrasts with the metallic-like behavior observed in bulk Gd5SixGe4-x compounds. This general trend is interrupted by a two-step, positive-slope transition in ρ(T) throughout the [150,250]K interval, corresponding to two consecutive magnetic transitions: a fully coupled magnetostructural followed by a purely magnetic order on heating. An avalanche-like behavior is unveiled by the ∂ρ/∂T(T) curves and is explained based on the severe strains induced cyclically by the magnetostructural transition, leading to a cycling evolution of the transition onset temperature (∂T''h/∂n ~ 1.6 K/cycle , n being the number of cycles). Such behavior is equivalent to the action of a pressure of 0.56 kBar being formed and building up at every thermal cycle due to the large volume induced change across the magnetostructural transition. Moreover the thermal hysteresis, detected in both ρ and magnetization versus temperature curves, evolves significantly along the cycles, decreasing as n increases. This picture corroborates the thermal activation energy enhancement - estimated via an exponential fitting of the ∂ρ/∂T(T) in the avalanche regime. This work demonstrates the importance of using a short-range order technique, to probe both pure magnetic and magnetostructural transitions and their evolution with thermal cycles.

Due to the emerging cooling possibilities at the micro and nanoscale, such as the fast heat exchange rate, the effort to synthesize and optimize the magnetocaloric materials at these scales is rapidly growing. Here, we report the effect of different thermal treatments on Gd5Si1.3Ge2.7 thin film in order to evaluate the correlation between the crystal structure, magnetic phase transition and magnetocaloric effect. For annealing temperatures higher than 773 K, the samples showed a typical paramagnetic behavior. On the other hand, annealing below 773 K promoted the suppression of the magnetostructural transition at 190 K, while the magnetic transition around 249 K is not affected. This magnetostructural transition extinction imparts reflected in the magnetocaloric behavior and resulted in a drastic decrease in the entropy change peak value. Nevertheless, an increase in 25% of the TC and an increasing ΔTFWHM from 23 to 49 K of its operation temperature interval, ΔT, upon annealing, are crucial for future application in magnetic refrigeration.

Regenerative magnetic cycles are of interest for small-scale, high-efficiency cryogen liquefiers; however, commercially relevant performance has yet to be demonstrated. To develop improved engineering prototypes, an efficient modeling tool is required to screen the multi-parameter design space. In this work, we describe an active magnetic regenerative refrigerator prototype using a high-field superconducting magnet that produces a 100 K temperature span. Using the experimental data, a semi-analytic AMR element model is validated and enhanced system performance is simulated using liquid propane as a heat transfer fluid. In addition, the regenerator composition and fluid flow are simultaneously optimized using a differential evolution algorithm. Simulation results indicate that a natural gas liquefier with a 160 K temperature span and a second-law efficiency exceeding 20% is achievable.

The intrinsic magnetic properties of the La0.9Nd0.1Fe12B6 compound have been studied by magnetization measurements. The compound orders ferromagnetically (FM) at the Curie temperature, TC, of ~58 K, which shifts toward higher temperatures with increasing magnetic field. At 2 K isothermal magnetization data indicate a mixed magnetic state with ~2/3 of the material remaining FM and ~1/3 becoming antiferromagnetic (AFM) after cooling in a zero magnetic field. The AFM state fully transforms into the FM state via a field-induced metamagnetic transition, and the critical field is ~HC = 34 kOe at 2 K. Another kind of metamagnetic transition is observed above the low-field TC, where a field-induced metamagnetic transition is between the paramagnetic (PM) and FM states. Both metamagnetic transitions are accompanied by large thermal and magnetic hystereses, and the Arrott plots confirm that the transitions are first order in nature. A large magnetocaloric effect in the La0.9Nd0.1Fe12B6 compound is observed in the vicinity of the field-induced PM-FM transition.

The magnetic and magnetocaloric properties of DyCo2Cx (x = 0, 0.05, 0.1, and 0.15) alloys were investigated. The results show that the Curie temperature (TC) of the DyCo2Cx alloys increases with increasing C content, from 136 K (x = 0) to 152 K (x = 0.15), but the lattice parameter a of DyCo2Cx exhibits a maximum at x = 0.05. The suppression of the ac susceptibility of DyCo2Cx at low temperature indicates the enhancement of the domain wall pinning effect by carbon doping. The positive slops of the Arrott plots of the doped compounds indicate that the phase transition is second order for the carbon-doped alloys, and the maximum value of the isothermal magnetic entropy change (ΔSM) for the magnetic field change of 50 kOe decreases from −13.9 J/kg· K (x = 0) to −7.8 J/kg·K (x = 0.15). The relative cooling power (RCP) of DyCo2Cx is nearly the same in all studied alloys, while the temperature-averaged entropy change over 10 K temperature span, TEC(10), indicates decreasing magnetocaloric performance of carbon doped materials.