Peculiar magnetocaloric properties and critical behavior in antiferromagnetic Tb3Ni with complex magnetic structure

Abstract

A study on the magnetocaloric properties of a Tb3Ni single crystal (which crystallizes in the orthorhombic Pnma space group) has been undertaken and combined with the study of the character and critical behavior of its magnetic transitions. It presents two important magnetocaloric effects in the temperature range 3–90 K due to the richness and variety of its temperature and magnetic field induced phase transitions. There is a conventional (direct) magnetocaloric effect with a maximum at 65 K and very competitive properties: = 16.6 J/kgK, RCFWHM = 432 J/kg, with a 50 K span, for μ0ΔH = 5 T, which is due to the transition from a magnetically ordered state to the paramagnetic (PM) state with a combined antiferromagnetic to ferromagnetic (AFM-FM) metamagnetic transition. Besides, it also presents an inverse magnetocaloric effect at very low temperature for which the presence of metamagnetic transitions between AFM and FM states is responsible (=19.9 J/kgK, RCFWHM = 245 J/kg, with a 15 K span, for μ0ΔH = 5 T). At low field (<2 T), the character of the AFM-PM transition which takes place at ≈ 61 K has been well established to be second order and governed by short range order interactions, as the critical parameters α, A+/A- obtained from the specific heat at μ0H = 0 T point to the 3D-Heisenberg universality class. Conversely, the metamagnetic transitions between AFM and FM states, which appear for magnetic fields higher than 2 T, have a first order character, as proved by the magnetization behavior as a function of field and temperature. These properties make this material extremely interesting for magnetic refrigeration applications in the gas liquefaction range 4–77 K.