Giant entropy change at the co-occurrence of structural and magnetic transitions in the Ni2.19Mn0.81Ga Heusler alloy

In this paper we report the existence of a giant magnetocaloric effect (MCE) in a intermetallic compound non-containing rare-earth. This effect is associated with the concomitant occurrence of a structural and a magnetic transition. The result has been compared with that obtained in a parent compound in which magnetic and structural transition occur separately.