Optimal temperature range for determining magnetocaloric magnitudes from heat capacity

The determination of the magnetocaloric magnitudes (specific magnetic entropy change, Δs M, and adiabatic temperature change, ΔT ad) from heat capacity (c H) measurements requires measurements performed at very low temperatures (∼0 K) or data extrapolation when the low temperature range is unavailab...

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Bibliographic Details
Authors: Moreno Ramírez, Luis Miguel, Blázquez Gámez, Javier Sebastián, Law, Jia Yan, Franco García, Victorino, Conde Amiano, Alejandro
Format: article
Status:Versión enviada para evaluación y publicación
Publication Date:2016
Country:España
Institution:Universidad de Sevilla (US)
Repository:idUS. Depósito de Investigación de la Universidad de Sevilla
OAI Identifier:oai:idus.us.es:11441/146835
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/11441/146835
https://doi.org/10.1088/0022-3727/49/49/495001
Access Level:Open access
Keyword:Adiabatic temperature change
Heat capacity
Magnetocaloric effect
Description
Summary:The determination of the magnetocaloric magnitudes (specific magnetic entropy change, Δs M, and adiabatic temperature change, ΔT ad) from heat capacity (c H) measurements requires measurements performed at very low temperatures (∼0 K) or data extrapolation when the low temperature range is unavailable. In this work we analyze the influence on the calculated Δs M and ΔT ad of the usually employed linear extrapolation of c H from the initial measured temperature down to 0 K. Numerical simulations have been performed using the Brillouin equation of state, the Debye model and the Fermi electron statistics to reproduce the magnetic, lattice and electronic subsystems, respectively. It is demonstrated that it is not necessary to reach experimentally temperatures very close to 0 K due to the existence of certain starting temperatures of the experiments, the same for Δs M and ΔT ad, that minimize the error of the results. A procedure is proposed to obtain the experimental magnitudes of Δs M and ΔT ad with a minimum error from c H data limited in temperature. It has been successfully applied to a GdZn alloy and results are compared to those derived from magnetization measurements.