Investigation of spin reorientation and magnetocaloric behavior in PrCo5_xCux compounds

In the present work, we have studied the structural and magnetic properties of the compounds PrCo2Cu3, PrCo2.5Cu2.5 and PrCo3Cu2 as well as their spin reorientation transition and magnetocaloric behavior. All three compounds crystallize in the hexagonal CaCu5-type structure. The lattice parameters increase when copper re-places cobalt. The temperature dependence of the magnetization has been determined at low and high tem-peratures. It revealed that the Curie temperature decreases from similar to 1000 K to 310 K after the substitution of cobalt by copper (PrCo2Cu3). For the copper-rich compound, a merging of the transition from the planar ferromagnetic state to the axial ferromagnetic one and the transition from the ferromagnetic state to the para-magnetic one is observed. A constant entropy variation is observed over a wide temperature range centered around room temperature. It results from the merging of the entropy measured around the spin reorientation temperature and that measured around Curie temperature.

Automated summary

In this study, the structural and magnetic properties of PrCo2Cu3, PrCo2.5Cu2.5, and PrCo3Cu2 compounds were investigated, along with their spin reorientation transition and magnetocaloric behavior. All three compounds adopt the hexagonal CaCu5-type structure, and the lattice parameters increase with copper replacing cobalt. The magnetization temperature dependence revealed a decrease in Curie temperature from around 1000 K to 310 K after cobalt substitution by copper (in PrCo2Cu3). The copper-rich compound exhibited a merging of transitions from planar ferromagnetic to axial ferromagnetic and from ferromagnetic to paramagnetic states. A constant entropy variation was observed over a wide temperature range centered around room temperature, resulting from the merging of entropy measured around the spin reorientation and Curie temperatures.