Measurements of Magnetocaloric Effect, Thermal Expansion and Magnetostriction of Single Crystal RAl2 (R = Gd, Er)
LOPATINA Anastasia, 二塚 和美, 熊澤 直哉, 小松 俊介, 松本 宏一, 大橋 政司 （金沢大）
Abstract:Intermetallic compounds RAl2 have the cubic Laves phase structure (type – Cu2Mg) and show the second-order magnetic phase transition from a paramagnetic to the ferromagnetic state at the Curie temperature Tc. In these compounds, the only carriers of the magnetic moment are the ions of the rare earth element. RAl2 intermetallic compounds are widely used in magnetic refrigerator systems.
This paper presents the results of magnetocaloric effect, thermal expansion and magnetostriction of single crystals GdAl2 and ErAl2. The measurements were carried out in the temperature range from 4.2 K to 300 K in a magnetic field up to 5 T along the [111], [110] and [100] directions (for GdAl2) and along the [110] and [100] directions (for ErAl2).