Observation of large magnetocaloric effect in equiatomic binary compound ErZn

Abstract

The magnetism, magnetocaloric effect and universal behaviour in rare earth Zinc binary compound of ErZn have been studied. The ErZn compound undergoes a second order paramagnetic (PM) to ferromagnetic (FM) transition at Curie temperature of TC ∼ 20 K. The ErZn compound exhibits a large reversible magnetocaloric effect (MCE) around its own TC. The rescaled magnetic entropy change curves overlap with each other under various magnetic field changes, further confirming the ErZn with the second order phase transition. For the magnetic field change of 0-7 T, the maximum values of the magnetic entropy change (-ΔSMmax), relative cooling power (RCP) and refrigerant capacity (RC) for ErZn are 23.3 J/kg K, 581 J/kg and 437 J/kg, respectively.