Large inverse magnetocaloric effect in Ni50Mn34In16

We report a study of the magnetocaloric effect in the ternary alloy system Ni50Mn34In16. This system undergoes an austenite-martensite phase transition, and the change in magnetic entropy is found to be quite large across this martensitic transition. This entropy change is due to an increase in entropy induced by the application of an external magnetic field and can lead to a large inverse magnetocaloric effect. Isothermal magnetic field variation of magnetization exhibits field hysteresis in Ni50Mn34In16 across the martensitic transition. But in spite of the hysteresis losses, a large effective refrigerant capacity can be obtained in this material over a wide temperature interval.