Large reversible magnetocaloric effect in Tb2In

The intermetallic compound Tb2In exhibits two magnetic phase transitions: a paramagnetic-ferromagnetic transition at TCTC of 165 K and a ferromagnetic–antiferromagnetic one at 45 K. A large reversible magnetocaloric effect is observed in Tb2In. For a magnetic field change of 5 T, the maximum magnetic entropy change −ΔSM is 6.6 J/kg K at TCTC. Meanwhile, the full width at half maximum (δTFWHM) of the −ΔSM−T curve has a very high value of 100 K and relative cooling power (RCP) is as high as 660 J/kg with no hysteresis loss. In particular, the large reversible −ΔSM (3.5 J/kg K), δTFWHM (57 K) and RCP (200 J/kg) are achieved for a low field change of 2 T. The large reversible magnetic–entropy changes, together with high δTFWHM and RCP values indicate that Tb2In is a suitable candidate material for magnetic refrigeration.