A magnetocaloric study on the series of 3d-metal chromites ACr2O4 where A = Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu and Zn

Abstract The 3d-metal chromites ACr2O4 where A is a magnetic ion, show the paramagnetic to ferrimagnetic phase transition at T C while for non-magnetic A-site ion, ACr2O4 show paramagnetic to antiferromagnetic phase transition at T N . In this report, we present the detailed study of magnetic and the magnetocaloric effect (MCE) of the 3d-metal chromites ACr2O4 (where A = Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, and Zn) near T C and T N . We find the magnitude of MCE ( - Δ S M ) decreases on decreasing the magnetic moment of A-site ion with an exception for CuCr2 O 4 . Additionally, to know more about the order and nature of phase transition, we have made a scaling analysis of ( - Δ S M ) for all the chromites across the phase transition temperatures T C and T N .