The magnetocaloric effect in the vicinity of compensation temperature of ferrimagnetic DyCo<Subscript>4</Subscript>Al alloy

The magnetic and magnetocaloric properties in ferrimagnetic DyCo<Subscript>4</Subscript>Al alloy are investigated in the vicinity of compensation temperature. A compensation temperature closed to room temperature is observed due to the spin-offset. On both sides of compensation temperature, the magnetization presents the abrupt change. As a consequence, two successive positive and negative magnetic entropy change peaks are obtained for this alloy. The appreciable magnetic entropy change values with a very wide refrigerant temperature interval (~200 K) corresponding to the positive magnetic entropy change peak would make this alloy suitable to be used in a magnetic refrigerator. Copyright EDP Sciences, SIF, Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2013