Magnetic properties and magnetocaloric effects in GdCo9Si2 compound with multiple magnetic phase transitions

Abstract

The structure and magnetic properties of polycrystalline GdCo9Si2 compound have been investigated. It has a BaCd11 structure and undergoes two magnetic phase transitions: an antiferromagnetic to ferrimagnetic transition occurring at ∼93 K, and a ferrimagnetic to paramagnetic transition at 420 K, which results in a positive and a negative magnetic entropy change, respectively. The two peak values of magnetic entropy change are −0.6 and 1.1 J·kg−1·K−1 for ΔH = 5 T. Furthermore, there exists a metal-semiconductor transition temperature (TP), below which the resistance increases with increasing temperature, while the semiconductor characteristic is observed above TP. The magnetic domain structures are characterized by stripe and grid structures 1 μm wide. Although the MCE is small for applications, its study is useful to clearly understand the nature of multiple magnetic phase transitions in the GdCo9Si2 compound.