The attention for materials displaying high magnetocaloric effect (MCE) has grown during the past 30 years. One of the most important properties of MCE is the adiabatic temperature change ( ). The main aim of this work was to develop a method to measure the temperature change ( ) for magnetocaloric materials in a changing magnetic field.  A technique was developed where maximum reached  for Gadolinium was 1.19 K in a changing magnetic field of 1.3 T, however, this is lower value in comparison with previous studies (3.3 K in a changing magnetic field of 1 T, Bjørk, et al., 2010) which makes the developed method not sufficient enough to measure . Furthermore, finding novel materials displaying high MCE is of great interest. MnFePSiB alloys display promising MCE properties but processing method is expensive and time consuming. Therefore, a MnFePSiB compound was simply remelted several times and heat treated to enhance its properties. The MnFePSiB alloy was remelted 1, 2 and 3 times after initial casting. Melting the material 3 times resulted improvement in both the magnetic and magnetocaloric properties due to enhanced homogeneity. The material melted 3 times was further heat treated to improve its magnetic magnetocaloric properties. Heat treating the material for 5 hours at 1373K improved the magnetic entropy change more than 10 times compared to the as cast sample,  was moved closer to room temperature and maximum  of 0.71 K was obtained.

The effect of doping on the crystal structure, magnetic, magnetocaloric and transport properties of MnM′Ge (M′ = Ni, Co) intermetallic compounds and NiMnX (X = Sn, In) Heusler alloys have been studied by room temperature X-ray diffraction (XRD), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), and magnetization measurements. The studied magnetic systems include Ni1-xCrxMnGe1.05 (0 ≤ x ≤ 0.120), Mn1-xAlxCoGe (0 ≤ x ≤ 0.05), MnCo1-xZrxGe (0.01 ≤ x ≤ 0.04), Mn1-xAgxCoGe (0.01 ≤ x ≤ 0.10), Ni50-xRxMn35Sn15 (x = 0, 1 and R = La, Pr, Sm), Ni43-xRxMn46Sn11 (x = 0, 1 and R = Pr, Gd, Ho, Er), and Ni50Mn35In15-xBix (0 ≤ x ≤ 1.5).A temperature induced first-order structural transition characterized by a change in crystal structure from high temperature austenite phase (AP) with Ni2In-type Hexagonal structure to low temperature martensite phase (MP) with TiNiSi-type orthorhombic structure was observed at T = TM (martensitic transition temperature) in some of the MnM′Ge-based compounds. The partial substitution of doping elements such as Cr, Al, Zr, and Ag resulted in a decrease in TM and at certain concentration, TM was found to decrease below / coincide with the ferromagnetic transition temperature (TC) of AP. Therefore, such system show a first-order magnetostructural transition (MST).In Ni1-xCrxMnGe1.05, a MST from antiferromagnetic (AFM) orthorhombic to ferromagnetic (FM) hexagonal phase was observed for 0.105 ≤ x ≤ 0.120. Both direct and inverse MCE were observed in this compound. The peak values of the magnetic entropy change (ΔSMpeak ) in the vicinity of TC for ΔH = 5T were found to be 4.5 J/kg K, 5.6 J/Kg K, and 5.1 J/Kg K for x = 0.105, 0.115, and 0.120 respectively. A magnetic field-induced transition from an AFM to a FM state in the martensite structure was observed in annealed Ni0.895Cr0.105MnGe1.05 melt-spun ribbons, which led to a coupled MST from a FM martensite to a PM austenite phase with a large change in magnetization. As a result of the field-induced MST, a large ΔSMpeak value of 16.1 J kg-1 K-1 (which is about a four times larger than the bulk) and Refrigeration capacity (RC-1) =144 J kg-1 at μ0∆H = 5 T was found. It was also found that the ribbon samples showed excellent magnetic reversibility that is important for application. MCE parameters, adiabatic temperature change (∆Tad) and |〖∆S〗_M |, with maximum value of ~ 2.6 K (µoH = 10 T) and 4.4 J kg-1 K-1(µo∆H = 5 T), respectively, were observed in the vicinity of TC. The ∆Tad (T) curves obtained for µoΔH = 10 T and magnetization isotherms were found to be completely reversible, which indicates the reversibility of the MCE in this system. A large temperature span (of about 61 K) and a non-saturating behavior of ∆Tad were observed at magnetic fields up to 10 T. The adiabatic temperature change was found to be a linear function of (µoH)2/3 near TC in accordance with Landau’s theory of phase transitions.In MnCoGe compounds doped with Al, Zr, and Ag, a tunable MST from the paramagnetic hexagonal to ferromagnetic orthorhombic phase was observed. The maximum ΔSM values of about 18, 7.2, and 22 J kg-1 K-1for ∆H = 5T at TM was observed for Al, Zr, and Ag doped compounds, respectively. The corresponding maximum value of RC was found to be (303, 266, and 308) JKg-1.The new compounds containing low concentration of rare earth (R) metals: Ni50-xRxMn35Sn15, Ni43-xRxMn46Sn11, with R = La, Pr, Sm, Gd, Ho, Er and Ni50Mn35In15-xBix were synthesized. The compounds crystallized in the cubic L21 austenite phase (AP) or a mixture of AP and low temperature martensitic phase (MP) at room temperature. For Ni50-xRxMn35Sn15 and Ni43-xRxMn46Sn11 alloys, TM shifted towards higher temperature with rare-earth doping, thus stabilizing the MP at higher temperature. A maximum shift in TM by ~ 60-62 K relative to the parent compound (TM = 190-195 K) was observed for the Ni49LaMn35Sn15 and Ni42PrMn46Sn11. TM shifted towards lower temperature if Bi is placed in In position in Ni50Mn35In15-xBix. A maximum shift of ~ 36 K was detected for x = 1.5. Abnormal shifts in TC and TM to higher temperatures were observed at high field for Bi concentration ≥ 0.5.The ground state magnetization decreased with the rare-earth doping and increasing Bi content. The compounds exhibit both inverse and normal magnetocaloric effects. Large values of ∆SM = 12 (Ni49PrMn35Sn15), 32 Jkg-1K-1(Ni42PrMn46Sn11), 28 Jkg-1K-1 (Ni42GdMn46Sn11), 25 Jkg-1K-1 (Ni42HoMn46Sn11), 40 J/kg K (Ni50Mn35In15) and 34 J/kg K (Ni50Mn35In15-xBix, x = 0.25) were found at TM for ∆H = 5T that can be tuned in a wide temperature range. RC values ranging from 267-336 Jkg-1 at TC, 182 -250 Jkg-1 at TM and 144-165 Jkg-1 at TC were found with ∆H = 5T for Ni50-xRxMn35Sn15, Ni43-xRxMn46Sn11, and Ni50Mn35In15-xBix, respectively. Significant magnetoresistance (MR) values of -30%, -20 % and -30% were observed in Ni49LaMn35Sn15, Ni42GdMn46Sn11, and Ni50Mn35In14.5Bi0.5 compounds, respectively, at TM and ∆H = 5T. A large exchange bias effect with HEB ~ 1.1 kOe at 10 K was observed for the Ni42PrMn46Sn11 compound in its MP. Thus, the pronounced multifunctional properties such as shape memory effects, MCE, EB, and MR make these new systems promising for the ongoing development of magnetocaloric and multifunctional technologies.

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