Magnetocaloric effect in the intermetallic compound Gd5Si2Sb2

The rare-earth intermetallic compound, Gd5Si2Sb2 (orthorhombic Sm5Ge4-type, space group Pnma), has been synthesized and is found to be a ferromagnet with a transition temperature, T-C, of similar to 240 K. Magnetization vs. field isotherms for this compound were measured in the vicinity of TC in applied fields upto 7 tesla. Using these data, the isothermal magnetic entropy change, Delta SM, has been computed. The magnetic entropy change is large, attains a value of similar to 4.8 J/kg/K at TC for a field change of 7T and is spread over a wide temperature range exhibiting a table-like magnetocaloric effect, thus making this material attractive for Ericson-cycle magnetic refrigerator applications.