The normal and inverse magnetocaloric effect in RCu2 (R=Tb, Dy, Ho, Er) compounds

Orthorhombic polycrystalline RCu2 (R=Tb, Dy, Ho and Er) compounds were synthesized and the magnetic properties and magnetocaloric effect (MCE) were investigated in detail. All of the RCu2 compounds are antiferromagnetic (AFM) ordered. As temperature increases, RCu2 compounds undergo an AFM to AFM transition at Tt and an AFM to paramagnetic (PM) transition at TN. Besides of the normal MCE around TN, large inverse MCE around Tt was found in TbCu2 compound. Under a field change of 0-7 T, the maximal value of inverse MCE is even larger than the value of normal MCE around TN for TbCu2 compound. Considering of the normal and inverse MCE, TbCu2 shows the largest refrigerant capacity among the RCu2 (R=Tb, Dy, Ho and Er) compounds indicating its potential applications in low temperature multistage refrigeration.