Magnetocaloric effect in UM2 and (U,R)Ga2 compounds

Author(s)

Luzeli Moreira da Silva

• Document type: Doctoral Thesis
• Press: Campinas, SP.
• Institution: Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Instituto de Física Gleb Wataghin
• Defense date: 2006-12-20

Examining board members

Flávio César Guimarães Gandra; Hortencio Alves Borges; Renato Figueiredo Jardim; Marcelo Knobel; Iakov Veniaminovitch Kopelevitch

• Advisor: Flávio César Guimarães Gandra

Abstract

In this work we study the magnetocaloric effect in UM2 (M=Ga, Ge, Fe, Ni), U(Gal-xMx)2 and (Ul-yRy)Ga2 (M=AI, Ge, Si, Fe, Ni, Co, Pt and R=Dy, Er) which are ferromagnetic systems. The formation of the local moment in the UM2 ferromagnetic compound is important to obtain larger values for D S and D T. We calculated the magnetic properties and the EMC for UGa2 compound using crystal field and mean field approximations. The calculated curves show good agreement with the experimental data. Our calculations show that the crystal field is of fundamental importance on the magnetic properties ofthe material. Measurements of the structural, magnetic and thermal properties of U(Gal-xMx)2 shows that the introduction of a reduced quantity of AI induce a small expansion of the unit cell volume and contributes to the increase of the U local moment and to an enhance the EMC, whereas chemical or mechanical pressures increase Tc and reduce the U moment, weakening the EMC. On the other hand, the electronic properties of the dopant material, such as 3d ions (Ni, Fe and Co ), can interfere in the exchange interaction between the magnetic ions attenuating the intemal field. The values of EMC obtained for RPtGa (R= Dy, Ho, Er and U) compounds also confirm the fact that the magnitude of magnetocaloric effect ( DS and D T values) is related with the magnitude of magnetic moment of ion. Also, as observed in UNiGa, the character of magnetic transitions is an important parameter and contributes positively to the EMC. The results for the (Ul-yRy)Ga2 series shows a faster decrease of Tc (even at the U saide, y £ 0,2) with changes on the magnetic ordering characteristic. The probable competition between U-U, R-R and U-R interactions induce the spin glass behavior in U0,2Dy0,8Ga2. For high Dy and Er concentrations (y ³ 0,5) the magnetic moment at 70 kOe is increased and contribute to enhance the EMC at low temperatures (T <30K). The results obtained for the substitution of small quantities of Dy and Er (y ~0,2) showa large D S peak, similar to a composite sample (AU)