abstract |
A magnetic refrigerant material exhibits sufficiently great magnetocaloric effect at or near room temperature. The magnetic refrigerant material has an NiAs type hexagonal structure in a ferromagnetic phase. The magnetic refrigerant material includes a first element Mn, a second element As and a third element to substitute for a portion of the second element, and exhibits a magnetic phase transition in a temperature range from about 230 K to less than about 318 K. |