Field Dependence of the Magnetocaloric Effect in MnFe(P,Si) Materials

The field dependence of the magnetocaloric effect (MCE) in Mn
_1.22
Fe
_0.73
P
_0.47
Si
_0.53
is studied in terms of the entropy change (
$\Delta S$
) and the temperature change (
$\Delta T$
) for applied magnetic fields up to 5 and 14 T, respectively. The magnetic fields required to saturate the MCE in this system are
$\sim 1.7$
and 4–5 T for
$\Delta S$
and
$\Delta T$
, respectively. The MCE field dependence is compared with the two approaches of the literature: 1) latent heat model and 2) the power law evolution predicted from the universal analysis of the MCE. It turns out that both of these methods are unsuitable to describe the MCE field evolution in MnFe(P,Si) materials.