JOURNAL OF OPTOELECTRONICS AND ADVANCED MATERIALS, cilt.11, sa.8, ss.1106-1110, 2009 (SCI-Expanded)
In this work, LaFe11.4Si1.6 compound was prepared by arc-melting method and annealed at temperature of 1473 K for 5, 10, 30, 60, 180 and 7200 min. X-ray results indicated that as-cast compound mainly consists of alpha-Fe and LaFeSi phases. After 5 min annealing time at 1473 K, the mixture of a-Fe and LaFeSi was gradually transformed into cubic NaZn13 type phase of LaFe11.4Si1.6. X-ray result indicated that the sample annealed for 30 min crystallized in a single phase with a cubic NaZn13 structure. The magnetic characterizations of the samples were carried out at various temperatures and magnetic fields. The maximum magnetic entropy change (vertical bar Delta S-m vertical bar) of the sample annealed at 1473 K for 30 min is 22.7 J/kg K at a magnetic field change of 5 T. It was shown that magnetic and magnetocaloric properties for short high temperature annealing of LaFe11.4Si1.6 compound are in a good agreement with previously reported values.