Magnetic and magnetocaloric properties of La0.6Ca0.4−xCexMnO3

La0.6Ca0.4−xCexMnO3 (x = 0, 0.03, 0.06, and 0.09) compounds are fabricated by a solid-state reaction, and their structural, magnetic, and magnetocaloric properties are investigated. The Curie temperature at which a ferromagnetic-paramagnetic transition occurs decreases from 260 to 221 K as x increases from 0 to 0.09. The saturation magnetization also decreases with the increase of x. The experimental results for the magnetization with respect to the temperature and magnetic field are analyzed using the Banerjee criterion, revealing that all the samples undergo the second-order magnetic phase transition. The maximum magnetic entropy change measured at a magnetic-field span of 50 kOe, which occurs near the Curie temperature, slightly increases from 6.31 to 7.62 J/kg K as x increases from 0 to 0.09.