Specific heat and entropy change at the first order phase transition of La(Fe-Mn-Si)13-H compounds

In this paper, we present the results of an experimental investigation on the magnetocaloric properties of hydrogenated La(Fe-Mn-Si)(13)-H with Mn substituting Fe to finely tune the transition temperature. We measured the specific heat under magnetic field c(p)(H,T) and the magnetic field induced isothermal entropy change Delta s(H, T) of a series of compounds by direct Peltier calorimetry. Results show that increasing Mn from 0.06 to 0.46 reduces the transition temperature from 339 K to 270K whilst the total entropy change due to a 1.51 field is depressed from 18.7 J kg(-1)K(-1) to 10.2 J kg(-1)K(-1) and the thermal hysteresis similarly is reduced from 1.5 K to zero. In the paper, we interpret the results in terms of a magnetic phase transition changing from the first to the second order with increasing Mn content, and we discuss the value of the results for magnetic cooling applications. (C) 2015 AIP Publishing LLC.