Magnetic Structure and Magnetocaloric Properties of Ho(Co1-хFeх)2 Quasibinary Intermetallic Compounds

AbstractA study of crystal and magnetic structures, heat capacity, magnetic and magnetocaloric properties of Ho(Co1-х Feх)2 (with increasing x from 0 to 0. 2) intermetallic compounds has been undertaken. Phase composition was controlled by X-ray diffraction analysis. Neutron diffraction experiment was performed at temperatures of 78 and 293K. Magnetic properties were measured within the temperature range 5÷325K in magnetic fields up to 70 kOe. It was shown that considerable maximum broadenings on the temperature dependence of magnetic entropy change is observed with iron concentration increase. The avarage magnetic moment of Ho ions in their sublattice decreases from 10μB for HoCo2 to 9μB for Ho(Co0.8Fe0.2)2 that can be connected with the existence of the umbrella-like (canting) magnetic structure in Ho-sublattice