Observation of magnetization reversal and magnetocaloric effect in manganese modified EuCrO3 orthochromites

We report here an investigation on the structural, magnetic and magnetocaloric properties of Mn doped EuCr0.85Mn0.15O3 (ECMO) chromites synthesized via ceramic route. The compound crystallized into distorted orthorhombic structure with Pnma space group similar to that of its parent EuCrO3 compound, as revealed from the refined of x-ray powder diffraction pattern, but with an increase in the lattice volume. Neel temperature, noticed at 162 K from the temperature variation of magnetization, smaller than that reported for pristine EuCrO3; indicated the influence of Mn3+ substitution in decreasing the antiferromagnetic ordering. Magnetization reversal evolved in the studied compound under lower field while such feature was absent in the undoped EuCrO3. Magnetocaloric effect was measured through the magnetic entropy change and relative cooling power. Near the spin reorientation transition temperature ~ 40 K, the magnetic entropy change was equal to 3.788 J kg−1 K−1 under 90 kOe field with 215.22 J kg−1relative cooling power. The results have been understood in terms of the competition between Cr-rich clusters, Mn-rich clusters and local Mn-Cr ordered clusters and their different temperature dependency.