Magnetic properties of CaCu5-type RNi3 TSi (R =Gd and Tb, T=Mn, Fe, Co and Cu) compounds

Magnetic properties and magnetocaloric effect of CaCu5-type RNi3 TSi (R=Gd and Tb, T=Mn, Fe, Co and Cu) compounds have been investigated. Magnetic measurements of RNi3 TSi display the increasing of Curie temperature and the decreasing of magnetocaloric effect and saturated magnetic moment in the row of ‘RNi3CuSi–RNi3NiSi–RNi3CoSi–RNi3MnSi–RNi3FeSi’. In contrast to GdNi3{Mn, Fe, Co}Si, TbNi3{Mn, Fe, Co}Si exhibit significant magnetic hysteresis. The coercive field increases from TbNi4Si (~0.5kOe) to TbNi3CoSi (4kOe), TbNi3MnSi (13kOe) and TbNi3FeSi (16kOe) in field of 50kOe at 5K, whereas TbNi3CuSi exhibits a negligible coercive field.