Study of the critical behaviour and magnetocaloric effect in DyFeAl

•Magnetic properties and magnetocaloric effect in DyFeAl were studied.•DyFeAl undergoes a second-order magnetic phase transition.•The values of critical exponents β, γ and δ of DyFeAl are determined.•DyFeAl could be a considerable candidate for magnetic refrigeration.

The intermetallic compound DyFeAl exhibits a paramagnetic to ferromagnetic transition at the Curie temperature TC (∼129 K). Magnetization and modified Arrott plots indicate that DyFeAl undergoes a second-order magnetic phase transition. The critical exponents β, γ and δ   are determined to be 0.48 ± 0.04, 1.33 ± 0.06 and 3.77 ± 0.10, respectively. The values of maximum magnetic entropy change (−ΔSMmax) for DyFeAl reach 3.1 and 8.3 J kg−1 K−1 for the field change of 2 and 7 T with no hysteresis loss around 130 K; the corresponding values of the relative cooling power (RCP) for DyFeAl are 190 and 832 J/kg for a field change of 2 and 7 T, respectively.