The crystal structure, itinerant-electron metamagnetic transition (IEMT) and magnetocaloric effect (MCE) in the iron-based rare-earth intermetallic compound La0.8Ce0.2Fe11.4Si1.6 have been investi- gated. The powder X...The crystal structure, itinerant-electron metamagnetic transition (IEMT) and magnetocaloric effect (MCE) in the iron-based rare-earth intermetallic compound La0.8Ce0.2Fe11.4Si1.6 have been investi- gated. The powder X-ray diffraction revealed that the ingot of La0.8Ce0.2Fe11.4Si1.6 annealed at 1373 K in vacuum for only 5 days could be crystallized in the cubic NaZn13-type structure. The La0.8Ce0.2Fe11.4Si1.6 compound exhibited giant values of the isothermal entropy change ?SM around the Curie temperature TC (about 186 K). And the maximum value ΔS M max is about 78.29 J/(kg·K) under a field change of 0—3 T, which can be calculated by the magnetization iso- therms around TC. Such a large MCE is attributed to the sharp change of magnetization and susceptibility around TC and the first-order magnetic transition of field-induced IEMT above TC.展开更多
基金This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 50164003).
文摘The crystal structure, itinerant-electron metamagnetic transition (IEMT) and magnetocaloric effect (MCE) in the iron-based rare-earth intermetallic compound La0.8Ce0.2Fe11.4Si1.6 have been investi- gated. The powder X-ray diffraction revealed that the ingot of La0.8Ce0.2Fe11.4Si1.6 annealed at 1373 K in vacuum for only 5 days could be crystallized in the cubic NaZn13-type structure. The La0.8Ce0.2Fe11.4Si1.6 compound exhibited giant values of the isothermal entropy change ?SM around the Curie temperature TC (about 186 K). And the maximum value ΔS M max is about 78.29 J/(kg·K) under a field change of 0—3 T, which can be calculated by the magnetization iso- therms around TC. Such a large MCE is attributed to the sharp change of magnetization and susceptibility around TC and the first-order magnetic transition of field-induced IEMT above TC.