Magnetic and magnetocaloric properties of Tb<inf>5</inf>Si<inf>2</inf>Sb<inf>2</inf>

The rare earth intermetallic compound, Tb5Si2Sb2 (orthorhombic Tm5Si2Sb2-type, space group Cmca), has been synthesized and characterized by means of magnetization measurements. This compound orders ferromagnetically at ∼181 K (TC). Using magnetization vs. field data, the isothermal magnetic entropy change (Δ SM) has been computed in the vicinity of TC in applied fields up to 5 T. A maximum value of magnetic entropy change ∼4.4 J/kg/K has been achieved for a field change of 5 T close to the magnetic ordering temperature. The magnetocaloric effect in this compound is thus moderate and spread over a broad temperature range of ∼30 K near TC which is useful for Ericsson-cycle magnetic refrigeration. © 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.