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The energy-efficient and environmentally friendly alternative cooling technology based on the magnetocaloric effect (MCE) is discussed in this thesis. The thesis has two major parts, one devoted to material characterization and the other to instrument development. Different magnetic oxides and intermetallic compounds with second-order and first-order magnetic transitions, respectively, were studied with the aim of finding materials suitable for magnetic refrigeration. For the application of the MCE, a high value of the isothermal entropy changes and the relative cooling power (RCP), along with minimal temperature hysteresis are required. The temperature hysteresis is negligible for all studied second-order compounds, while an almost ten times higher value of the isothermal entropy change has been observed for the first-order compounds. The highest value of isothermal entropy change (20 J/kgK at 2 T applied magnetic field) has been observed for the MnNiSi-type compounds exhibiting magneto-structural phase transitions, while the largest value of the RCP (176 J/kg at 2 T applied magnetic field) has been observed for the Fe₂P-type compounds exhibiting magneto-elastic phase transitions.

For the characterization of magnetocaloric properties, one important parameter is the adiabatic temperature change, which is often not reported in literature owing to the lack of experimental setups for direct measurements of the magnetocaloric effect. This thesis also includes the development of a setup for the direct measurement of the adiabatic temperature change upon a change in a magnetic field.