• Tavares, Pb
• Coelho, Aa
• Araujo, Jp
• Martins, Nv
• Leitao, Jv
• Reis, Ms
• Fernandes, Rp
• Pereira, Am
• Amaral, Js
• Amaral, Vs
• Rocco, Dl

Abstract

In the present work we report on the structural and magnetic behaviors of the PrNi5-xCox intermetallic compounds. Due to the competition between the anisotropy energies of both Co and Pr sublattices, this series has a spin-reorientation phenomenon at low temperature (140 K). The Curie temperature, as a function of Co content, has a sudden increase above a critical concentration x(c)similar to 1.9 and this feature is assigned as a percolation of geometrically spaced Co clusters. This assumption is explained based on the critical exponent of percolation theory. The series presents therefore a rich magnetic phase diagram, which could be established over a full doping range, i.e., from x=0 to x=5. We have also studied these compounds on the magnetocaloric point of view and found a quite large full width at half maximum (delta T-FWHM) of the magnetic entropy change curves for some of the compositions, due to the merging of the Delta S peaks associated with the spin-reorientation process and the Curie temperature T-C. In addition, the series has an appreciable relative cooling power, which is therefore suitable to be used in a magnetic refrigerator operating in a large range of temperature.

Topics

• impedance spectroscopy
• compound
• cluster
• phase
• theory
• intermetallic
• phase diagram
• Curie temperature