Magnetic structure and magnetic entropy change in the intermetallic compound DyCoAl

Magnetic and magnetocaloric properties of polycrystalline DyCoAl compound have been studied in fields up to 9 T. This compound orders ferromagnetically at ∼37 K (TC). A maximum magnetic entropy change of ∼-18 J/kg/K is obtained for a field change of 9 T near TC which is reasonably large. Low temperature neutron powder diffraction data indicate collinear ferromagnetic structure where Dy magnetic moments lie in the ab plane. At 10 K, the magnetic moment at Dy site is only ∼4.8 μB. © 2010 American Institute of Physics.