Study of the magnetocaloric effect in (Pr,Dy)2Fe17 and Pr2(Fe,Al)17 intermetallic compounds

The Pr2Fe17 compound is a potential candidate for low cost magnetocaloric materials with a significant relative cooling power (RCP) around room temperature (280 K). In this work, we present the results of the substitution of dysprosium for praseodymium and of the substitution of aluminum for iron in Pr2Fe17. The polycrystalline Pr2-xDyxFe17 (x = 0, 0.25) and Pr2Fe17-yAly (y = 0.25) were prepared by arc melting under a high purity argon and homogenized at 1373K to minimize the amount of other possible impurity phases. All the samples crystallize in the R (3) over barm of the rhombohedral Th2Zn17 type structure. The lattice parameter increases with the Al and Dy content. The Curie temperature increases with Dy content and Al content. The magnetic entropy change Delta S-m was estimated from isothermal magnetization curves for all samples.