Scaling laws for the magnetocaloric effect in second order phase transitions: From physics to applications for the characterization of materials

The detailed procedure for constructing the recently proposed phenomenological universal curve for the magnetic entropy change is presented, together with the exponents which control the field dependence of the different magnetocaloric-related magnitudes. Practical applications of the universal curve are also outlined: as a simple screening procedure of the performance of materials, as a method for making extrapolations to temperatures or fields not available in the laboratory, for the reduction of the experimental noise, for correcting the influence of non-saturating conditions, or as a way to eliminate the contribution of minority magnetic phases, among others. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd and IIR. All rights reserved.