Thermodynamic aspects of magnetic-field-driven phase transformations in Gd-Si-Ge alloys

摘要

A temperature-dependent Preisach model is proposed to describe hysteresis in materials in which a structural phase transformation driven by the magnetic field takes place. The model is applied to the interpretation of the temperature dependence of hysteretic magnetization curves measured for Gd-Si-Ge alloys. Predictions about the entropy exchanged during transformations under increasing or decreasing field reveal the role played by internal dissipative processes.