A Comparative Studies of Magnetocaloric Effect in Ni-Mn-Cu-Ga and Ni-Mn-Pb-Ga Alloys

Effect of Pb substitution for Cu on magnetocaloric properties of $Ni₂Mn_{1-x}Cu_xGa$ (x = 0.25, 0.27, 0.29) alloy was investigated experimentally. The magnetic measurements of Ni-Mn-Pb-Ga alloys conducted at low field of 4kA/m (50 Oe) showed that their Curie points are above the room temperature (RT). The analysis of isothermal magnetic curves allowed the estimation of magnetic entropy change $(ΔS_{M})$. The highest calculated value of $|ΔS_{M}|,$ ≈ 12 J/(kgK) and ≈ 1.8 J/(kgK), was registered for alloys containing 6.25 at.% of Cu and 6.75 at.% of Pb, respectively. The adiabatic temperature changes (ΔT) measured near RT are ≈ 0.4 K.