Controllable magnetic transitions and magnetocaloric effect of Ho1-xTmxNi (0≤x≤0.8) compounds
J. W. Xu,
X. Q. Zheng,
S. H. Shao,
S. X. Yang,
J. Y. Zhang,
S. G. Wang,
J. Liu,
Y. L. Liu,
Y. Zhang,
Z. Y. Xu,
L. C. Wang,
B. G. Shen
Affiliations
J. W. Xu
School of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing 100083, China
X. Q. Zheng
School of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing 100083, China
S. H. Shao
School of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing 100083, China
S. X. Yang
School of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing 100083, China
J. Y. Zhang
School of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing 100083, China
S. G. Wang
School of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing 100083, China
J. Liu
State Key Laboratory for Magnetism, Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences & University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China
Y. L. Liu
State Key Laboratory for Magnetism, Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences & University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China
Y. Zhang
Taiyuan University of Science and Technology, Taiyuan 030024, China
Z. Y. Xu
National Institute of Metrology, Beijing 100029, China
L. C. Wang
Department of Physics, Capital Normal University, Beijing 100048, China
B. G. Shen
School of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing 100083, China
Polycrystalline Ho1-xTmxNi (0≤x≤0.8) compounds were successfully prepared by an arc-melting method, and the crystal structure, magnetic properties and magnetocaloric effect (MCE) were investigated in detail. X-ray diffraction (XRD) results indicate that Ho1-xTmxNi (0≤x≤0.8) compounds are pure phases with FeB-type orthorhombic structure (space group Pnma). Magnetic measurements show that HoNi alloy undergoes a spin reorientation (SR) transition and a ferromagnetic (FM) to paramagnetic (PM) transition at 13.5 K and 35.5 K, respectively. Rare earth atoms Tm with small spin were used to substitute Ho atoms in HoNi compound in order to adjust the magnetic phase transitions and to further optimize the magnetocaloric effect (MCE). With increasing Tm content from 0 to 0.8, the refrigerant temperature span decreases from 41.6 K to 17.3 K. When the content of Tm is 0.3, a platform-shaped isothermal magnetic entropy change (-ΔSM) curve is obtained and the value of -ΔSM is relatively stable over 35 K. Our findings are of great importance for HoTmNi compounds in practical applications.
