The magnetic properties and magnetocaloric effects of the ErNi 1-x Cu x Al (x ¼ 0.2, 0.5, 0.8) compounds have been studied. The sample with x ¼ 0.2 is found to be antiferromagnetic below the N eel temperature of T N ¼ 4.6 K, while the sample x ¼ 0.5 is simply ferromagnetic with a Curie temperature of T C ¼ 5.8 K. In contrast, the sample x ¼ 0.8 exhibits a short-range magnetic order, as revealed by AC magnetic measurements, and the transition temperature is 5.5 K. Large magnetic entropy change

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... S) without hysteresis losses has been observed around the transition temperature for all the samples. The DS displays a peak between 4 K and 10 K, and the maximal values of DS are -22.6, -25.9, and -24.8 J/kg K for the field changes of 0-5 T, corresponding to the compositions of x ¼ 0.2, x ¼ 0.5, and x ¼ 0.8, respectively. The large DS value as well as no hysteresis loss indicate that ErNi 1-x Cu x Al can be alternative candidates for magnetic refrigerant working at low temperature (<10 K). V C 2013 AIP Publishing LLC. [http://dx.