Magnetic and magnetocaloric properties of single crystal (Nd0.5Pr0.5)2Fe14B

In this work the magnetic and magnetocaloric properties of a (Nd0.5Pr0.5)2Fe14B single crystal have been investigated in a wide range of temperatures and magnetic fields. Magnetic phase transition temperatures (spin-reorientation transition (SRT) at TSR = 73 K and Curie point at Tc = 570 K) were determined together with the values of saturation magnetization Ms and magnetocrystalline anisotropy constants K1 and K2. In the vicinity of a spin-reorientation magnetic phase transition, the value of the magnetocaloric effect was determined as an isothermal magnetic entropy change (ΔSM). The universal curve of ΔS′(θ) around TSR under various magnetic field changes has been constructed by using a phenomenological procedure. It is found that this approach is applicable to materials with a second-order spin-reorientation phase transition.