Modeling Hysteresis of First-Order Magneto-Structural Phase Transformations

In this paper, we use a thermodynamic model based on superposition of bistable contributions to describe the magnetization curve of materials with a magneto-structural phase transformation. In order to describe the decreasing coercivity with increasing temperature, we extend the model to temperature-dependent distributions. We derive the expression for the entropy change, and we apply it to a case of interest for magnetic refrigeration.