Magnetocaloric effect in certain rare earth-transition materials

This book presents the results on magnetic, magneto-thermal and magneto-transport studies in some rare earth-based intermetallic compounds. The main aim of the present work was to investigate the magnetocaloric effect (MCE) and magnetoresistance (MR) in some intermetallics system, which have not received much attention. This was done by understanding the magnetic, magneto-thermal and magneto-transport behavior of these materials. With the objective of identifying some practical magnetic refrigerant materials, emphasis was given on systems showing first order magnetic transition, multiple transitions, metamagnetism etc. A giant magnetocaloric effect is expected in such systems. From the fundamental side, the aim was to understand the correlation among the magnetic, magnetocaloric and magneto-transport properties of these compounds. The thesis presents the work carried out on the magnetic, magnetocaloric and magnetoresistance behavior of the ternary compounds R1-xR'xMn2Si2-yGey[R,R'=RARE EARTH] and R2Ni2Sn [R=Ce, Nd, Sm, Gd and Tb] and pseudo binary compounds R2Al [R= Nd, Sm, Gd and Tb].