Effect of partial Nd-substitution on the magnetic and magnetocaloric properties in spin-reorientation PrCo

Partial Nd-substitution effects on the magnetic and magnetocaloric properties in spin-reorientation Pr1−xNdxCo4Al (x = 0, 0.2, 0.4, 0.6, 0.8) alloys are investigated. All these alloys undergo two successive spin-reorientation transitions. Accordingly, the successive positive and negative magnetic entropy changes (ΔSM) for all these alloys are obtained. With the increase of Nd content, the spin reorientation transition temperatures increase from about 170 and 186 K for x = 0 to room temperature (276 and 294 K) for x = 0.8, covering a wide temperature interval. More interestingly, the values of positive ΔSM values increase gradually from 0.1 to 0.9 J/kg K-1, while the negative ΔSM decrease from 1.3 to 0.2 J/kg K-1 in the field change of 10 kOe. In addition, the series has an appreciable relative cooling power, which is therefore suitable to be used in a magnetic refrigerator