Influence of the crystalline electrical field on the magnetocaloric effectin the series RNi2 (R = Pr, Nd, Gd, Tb, Ho, Er) - art. no. 184406

The magnetocaloric properties in the series RNi2 (R = Pr, Nd, Gd, Tb, Ho, E r) were fully investigated using a model Hamiltonian that includes the exch ange magnetic interaction and the crystalline electrical-field anisotropy. All theoretical results was obtained using the proper model parameters foun d in the literature for the compounds belonging to this series. For ErNi2 w e obtained a good agreement between theoretical and experimental data in th e magnetocaloric potentials. An anomalous second peak was predicted to exis t in the magnetocaloric curves for HoNi2 and it was ascribed to the high de nsity of states at low temperature.