Magnetic and Magnetocaloric Properties of Pr2Fe17-xCux Intermetallic Compounds

In this study, Cu-doped intermetallic compounds with the chemical composition of Pr2Fe17-xCux, (x = 0, 0.1, 0.2) were prepared by the arc-melting process. SEM analysis revealed that the samples consist of irregularly shaped and strongly connected micron-scale particles range from 0.5 mu m to 4 mu m. EDX analysis showed that all the samples consist of a single phase. The magnetic measurements revealed that all the samples exhibit a ferromagnetic to the paramagnetic phase transition. The Curie temperature was determined to increase linearly with increasing Cu substitution from 286 K for x = 0 to 303 K for x = 0.2. The maximum value of magnetic entropy change vertical bar Delta S-m vertical bar was estimated from isothermal magnetization curves and it decreases with increasing Cu content from 5.63 J/kg.K for x = 0 to 4.21 J/kg.K for x = 0.2 at 5 T magnetic field change. At the same magnetic field change, the relative cooling power values range from 404.8 J/Kg for x = 0 to 248.3 J/Kg for x = 0.2. Arrott plots and Landau analyses revealed that all the samples show second-order magnetic phase transition.