Specific heat of GdRh

GdRh, a ferromagnetic intermetallic, is of interest as a working material for magnetic refrigeration. The requirements for such materials have been discussed by Barclay et al. and it is in this context that we analyze our data. Magnetic measurements of Buschow et al. have indicated TC =24 K while specific heat measurements of Olijhoek et al. have shown a maximum at 20 K and have yielded a magnetic entropy of 16.7 J/mole K. No Debye temperature has been reported previously. We have measured the specific heat from 1.8 to 77 K and our data show a peak at 19.93 K that is 17% higher than in the previous work. Fitting of the data from 40 to 77 K to C=A/T2+𝒟(T/θ{T}), where A and θ{T} are adjustable parameters and 𝒟 is the Debye function, yields a Debye temperature of 198±2 K. For the magnetic entropy we obtain 17.4 J/K, very close to R ln 8.