Abstract
The structure and magnetocaloric properties of SmNi2 intermetallic material has been studied by X-ray diffraction and magnetic measurements. Rietveld refinements and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy detector show that the SmNi2 intermetallic is single phase. This intermetallic adopts the MgCu2 structure type of cubic Laves phase (space group Fd (3) over barm) and stabilizes without vacancy in Sm site. The magnetic properties and the entropy change have been investigated by the magnetic measurements. The compound obeys to the second-order magnetic phase transition. The Curie temperature of SmNi2 is determined by the minima of dM/dT. The magnetocaloric effect has been estimated using two different approaches, the thermodynamic Maxwell's relation and the Landau theory. These studies are discussed in terms of magnetocaloric effect (MCE). The maximum value of the magnetic entropy (Delta S-M) is equal to 1.82 J/kg K and the relative cooling power for SmNi2 is equal to 23.5 J/kg. Besides, the MCE analysis proves a contribution of the magnetoelastic coupling to the entropy change.