Magnetocaloric properties of Fe2-xTxP (T = Ru and Rh) from electronic structure calculations and magnetization measurements

An analysis of the magnetocaloric properties of pure and substituted Fe2P compounds is made based on KKR-CPA electronic structure calculations and magnetization M(H, T) measurements. The computed electronic densities of states and magnetic moments are used to calculate the values of both the electronic and magnetic entropies, which agree well with the experimental findings. To elucidate the magnetic properties above the Curie temperature, the paramagnetic state behaviours are simulated using the disordered local moments (DLM) concept. The KKR-CPA computations show that in Fe2P, the Fe magnetic moment of the (3f) site disappears in the DLM state, while the moment of the (3g) site is only slightly lowered, in comparison with the low temperature ferromagnetic state.