Magnetic and magnetocaloric properties of (Gd,Nd)5Si4 compounds

Agradecimentos: This study was financed in part by the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior – Brasil (CAPES) - Finance code 001, and the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development - CNPq. The authors also thank financial support from FAPESP, LNLS, and CNPEM Abstract: Since the discovery of the giant magnetocaloric effect in the compound Gd5Si2Ge2, rare earth based intermetallics of the form R5(Si,Ge)4 have been largely investigated in their structural and magnetic properties. From the parent compounds Gd5Si4 and Nd5Si4, the present paper reports the magnetic and magnetocaloric properties of the series Si4. Our results indicate that the magnetic moments of the Gd and Nd sublattices are antiparallel, where the moment of each sublattice has almost the same magnitude near . The antiparallel alignment of the sublattices is detrimental to the magnetocaloric properties of the samples. The end members of the series present larger entropy changes, while for the compound such quantity is much lower when compared to all other samples COORDENAÇÃO DE APERFEIÇOAMENTO DE PESSOAL DE NÍVEL SUPERIOR - CAPES CONSELHO NACIONAL DE DESENVOLVIMENTO CIENTÍFICO E TECNOLÓGICO - CNPQ FUNDAÇÃO DE AMPARO À PESQUISA DO ESTADO DE SÃO PAULO - FAPESP Fechado