Experimental and theoretical investigations of the magnetocaloric effect of Ni2.15Mn0.85−xCuxGa (x=0.05,0.07) alloys

Abstract

Magnetocaloric effects of Ni2.15Mn0.85−xCuxGa (x=0.05,0.07) alloys were investigated with both experimental and theoretical approaches. The experiments show that these alloys have large entropy changes and refrigeration capacities with the field change of 2T. Further theoretical analysis indicates that both magnetic entropy changes and lattice entropy changes have the same sign during heating, while the main entropy change arises from the magnetic entropy change.