A.A. Coelho

Itinerant electron metamagnetism and magnetocaloric effect in RCo2-based Laves phase compounds

Abstract By virtue of the itinerant electron metamagnetism (IEM), the RCo 2 compounds with R=Er, Ho and Dy are found to show first-order magnetic transition at their ordering temperatures. The inherent instability of Co sublattice magnetism is responsible for the occurrence of IEM, which leads to interesting magnetic and related physical properties. The systematic studies of the variations in the magnetic and magnetocaloric properties of the RCo 2 -based compounds show that the magnetovolume effect plays a decisive role in determining the nature of magnetic transitions and hence the magnetocaloric effect (MCE) in these compounds. It is found that the spin fluctuations arising from the magnetovolume effect reduce the strength of IEM, which subsequently lead to a reduction in the MCE. Most of the substitutions at the Co site are found to result in a positive magnetovolume effect, leading to an initial increase in the ordering temperature. Application of pressure, on the other hand, causes a reduction in the ordering temperature due to the negative magnetovolume effect. A comparative study of the magnetic and magnetocaloric properties of RCo 2 compounds under various substitutions and applied pressure is presented. Analysis of the magnetization data using the Landau theory of magnetic phase transitions has shown that there is a strong correlation between the Landau coefficients and the MCE. The variations seen in the order of magnetic transition and the MCE values seem to support the recent model proposed by Khmelevskyi and Mohn for the occurrence of IEM in RCo 2 compounds. Metastable nature of the transition metal sublattice in RCo 2 -based compounds and its role in determining the magnetic and magnetocaloric properties is explained.

Anisotropic superconducting properties of aligned MgB2 crystallites

Samples of aligned MgB(2) crystallites have been prepared, allowing for the first time the direct identification of an upper critical field anisotropy H(ab)(c2)/H(c)(c2) = xi(ab)/xi(c) approximately 1.7, with xi(o,ab) approximately 70 A, xi(o,c) approximately 40 A, and a mass anisotropy ratio m(ab)/m(c) approximately 0.3. A ferromagnetic background signal was identified, possibly related to the raw materials purity.

Pressure induced magnetic and magnetocaloric properties in NiCoMnSb Heusler alloy

The effect of pressure on the magnetic and the magnetocaloric (MC) properties around the martensitic transformation temperature in NiCoMnSb Heusler alloy has been studied. The martensitic transition temperature has significantly shifted to higher temperatures with pressure, whereas the trend is opposite with the application of applied magnetic field. The maximum magnetic entropy change around the martensitic transition temperature for Ni45Co5Mn38Sb12 is 41.4 J/kg K at the ambient pressure, whereas it is 33 J/kg K at 8.5 kbar. We find that by adjusting the Co concentration and applying suitable pressure, NiCoMnSb system can be tuned to achieve giant MC effect spread over a large temperature span around the room temperature, thereby making it a potential magnetic refrigerant material for applications.

The magnetic and magnetocaloric properties of Gd5Ge2Si2 compound under hydrostatic pressure

The Gd5Ge2Si2 compound presents a giant magnetocaloric effect with transition temperature at around 276 K and is a very good candidate for application as an active regenerator material in room temperature magnetic refrigerators. Recently it has been shown that pressure induces a colossal magnetocaloric effect in MnAs, a material that presents a giant magnetocaloric effect and a strong magnetoelastic coupling, as also happens with the Gd5Ge2Si2 compound. This motivated a search of the colossal effect in the Gd5Ge2Si2 compound. This work reports our measurements on the magnetic properties and the magnetocaloric effect of Gd5Ge2Si2 under hydrostatic pressures up to 9.2 kbar and as a function of temperature. Contrary to what happens with MnAs, pressure increases the Curie temperature of the compound, does not affect the saturation magnetization and decreases markedly its magnetocaloric effect.

Measurement of pressure effects on the magnetic and the magnetocaloric properties of the intermetallic compounds DyCo2 and Er(Co1−xSix)2

The effect of external pressure on the magnetic properties and magnetocaloric effect of polycrystalline compounds DyCo2 and Er(Co1−xSix)2 (x = 0,0.025 and 0.05) has been studied. The ordering temperatures of both the parent and the Si-substituted compounds are found to decrease with pressure. In all the compounds, the critical field for metamagnetic transition increases with pressure. It is seen that the magnetocaloric effect in the parent compounds is almost insensitive to pressure, while there is considerable enhancement in the case of Si-substituted compounds. Spin fluctuations arising from the magnetovolume effect play a crucial role in determining the pressure dependence of the magnetocaloric effect in these compounds. The variation of the magnetocaloric effect is explained on the basis of the Landau theory of magnetic phase transitions.

Surface spin disorder effects in magnetite and poly(thiophene)-coated magnetite nanoparticles

Chemically synthesized magnetite and poly(thiophene)-coated magnetite nanoparticles and the correlations between their magnetic, structural, and microstructural properties are investigated. A typical superparamagnetic behavior was observed for faceted nanoparticle agglomerates of magnetite and nanocomposite. In nanocomposites, the polymer layer causes a sharp decrease in the spin disorder, which reduces the anisotropy constant significantly. This happens because the intimate contact between magnetite and poly(thiophene) leads to charge transfer from the polymer to the core via polaron interactions, causing a structural rearrangement of the nanoparticles and suppression of the spin movement at the surface. As this dynamic interaction can tune the core dimensions, the magnetic properties of nanocomposites can be tuned by controlling the core size through polymer coating. These characteristics can be exploited to design high-performance magnetically tunable nanodevices and applied in many areas of biomedicin...

Ambient pressure colossal magnetocaloric effect in Mn1−xCuxAs compounds

Magnetic refrigeration is a good alternative to gas compression technology due to higher efficiency and environmental concerns. Magnetocaloric materials must exhibit large adiabatic temperature variations and a large entropic effect. MnAs shows the colossal magnetocaloric effect under high pressures or with Fe doping. In this work the authors introduce a class of materials—Mn1−xCuxAs—revealing a peak colossal effect of −175J∕(Kkg) for a 5T field variation at 318K and ambient pressure.

Origin of spin gapless semiconductor behavior in CoFeCrGa: Theory and Experiment

Despite a plethora of materials suggested for spintronic applications, a new class of materials has emerged, namely spin gapless semiconductors (SGS), that offers potentially more advantageous properties than existing ones. These magnetic semiconductors exhibit a finite band gap for one spin channel and a closed gap for the other. Here, supported by the first-principles, electronic-structure calculations, we report the first experimental evidence of SGS behavior in equiatomic quaternary CoFeCrGa, having a cubic Heusler (L21) structure but exhibiting chemical disorder (DO3 structure). CoFeCrGa is found to transform from SGS to half-metallic phase under pressure, which is attributed to unique electronic-structure features. The saturation magnetization (MS) obtained at 8 K agrees with the Slater-Pauling rule and the Curie temperature (TC) is found to exceed 400 K. Carrier concentration (up to 250 K) and electrical conductivity are observed to be nearly temperature independent, prerequisites for SGS. The anomalous Hall coefficient is estimated to be 185 S/cm at 5 K. Considering the SGS properties and high TC, this material appears to be promising for spintronic applications.

Ferroic states and phase coexistence in BiFeO3-BaTiO3 solid solutions

In this paper structural, electric, magnetic, and Mossbauer spectroscopy studies were conducted in (x)BiFeO3–(1-x)BaTiO3, 0.9 ≥ x ≥ 0.3, solid solutions. X-ray diffraction and Rietveld refinement studies indicated the formation of single-phased materials crystallized in a distorted perovskite structure with the coexistence of rhombohedral and monoclinic symmetries. Room temperature ferroelectric hysteresis loops showed that the electric polarization increases with the increase of the BaTiO3 content due to the singular structural evolution of the studied solid solutions. All samples presented weak ferromagnetic ordering, which indicates that the BaTiO3 substitution in the BiFeO3 matrix released the latent magnetization. Mossbauer studies revealed a magnetic spectral signature corresponding to ordered Fe3+ ions, and a decrease of the magnetic hyperfine magnetic fields with the increase of the BaTiO3 content. The composition 0.3BiFeO3–0.7BaTiO3 presented a spectral signature corresponding to a paramagnetic b...

Directional solidification processing of eutectic alloys in the Ni–Al–V system

Abstract Intermetallic matrix composites (IMCs) offer attractive properties, such as high toughness of the metal coupled with low density, high modulus and high strength of the intermetallics. Among a large number of the intermetallics, a particular interest has been shown in the NiAl intermetallic compound, since it exhibits several advantages over the currently used nickel-based superalloys. Recently, there has been a renewed interest in directional solidification of the eutectic alloys as a concept of reinforcing intermetallics with in situ refractory metals. The present study is related to the study of the eutectic alloys in the ternary NiAl–V system. The eutectic composition and temperature were accurately determined. It was concluded that the solidification behaviour of the Ni–Al–V eutectic is strongly dependent on the growth conditions, namely growth rate and orientation, and that it can be easily modified. Also, it was observed that the orientation of the grain, i.e., the direction of growth is the determining factor in the lamellar/rod transition as well as in the morphology of the degenerated structure.