Magnetic transition and magnetocaloric effect in Nd6Fe13Pd compound

The crystal structure, magnetic transitional behaviors and magnetocaloric effect were investigated in Nd6Fe13Pd compound. The results show that Nd6Fe13Pd crystallizes in the tetragonal Nd6Fe13Si-type structure (space group I4/mcm) with the lattice parameters a = b = 8.0765 Å and c = 22.3747 Å and two magnetic transitions from the ferromagnetic to the antiferromagnetic states with Ttr = 173 K and from the antiferromagnetic to the paramagnetic states with the Néel temperature of 369 K occurred in the Nd6Fe13Pd compound. The magnetic transition between the ferromagnetic and the antiferromagnetic states can be induced by either changing temperature or applying a magnetic field with very small thermal and magnetic hystereses and the transition temperature is very sensitive to the applied field. The experimental results indicate a broad working temperature span and negative magnetic entropy changes around Ttr = 173 K. For a magnetic field change of 2 T, the maximum magnetic entropy change −ΔSM reaches to 4.4 J kg−1 K−1 with the corresponding refrigeration capability of about 125 J kg−1.