Giant low field magnetocaloric effect and field-induced metamagnetic transition in TmZn

The magnetic properties and the magnetocaloric effect (MCE) in TmZn have been studied by magnetization and heat capacity measurements. The TmZn compound exhibits a ferromagnetic state below a Curie temperature of T-C = 8.4K and processes a field-induced metamagnetic phase transition around and above T-C. A giant reversible MCE was observed in TmZn. For a field change of 0-5 T, the maximum values of magnetic entropy change (-Delta S-M(max)) and adiabatic temperature change (Delta T-ad(max)) are 26.9 J/kg K and 8.6 K, the corresponding values of relative cooling power and refrigerant capacity are 269 and 214 J/kg, respectively. Particularly, the values of -Delta S-M(max) reach 11.8 and 19.6 J/kg K for a low field change of 0-1 and 0-2 T, respectively. The present results indicate that TmZn could be a promising candidate for low temperature and low field magnetic refrigeration. (C) 2015 AIP Publishing LLC.