Large magnetic entropy change in a Heusler alloy Ni52.6Mn23.1Ga24.3 singlecrystal - art. no. 132412

A large magnetic entropy change \DeltaS\ has been observed in Heusler alloy Ni52.6Mn23.1Ga24.3 single crystal near the martensitic structural transiti on temperature of 300 K with applied field along [001] direction. The obtai ned \DeltaS\ under an applied field of 5 T reaches 18.0 J/Kg K (correspondi ng 146 mJ/cm(3) K). A more important result is that \DeltaS\ can achieve co nstant increase of 4.0 J/Kg K for the field increase of every tesla. The ve ry large magnetic entropy change is attributed to the abrupt change of magn etization when the first-order martensitic-austensitic structural transitio n takes place. The phenomena of the large magnetic entropy change and the e asy adjustment of the martensitic-austensitic transition-temperature indica te that the non-rare-earth based Ni-Mn-Ga single-crystal materials may have potential applications as magnetic refrigerants.