  We have synthesized the intermetallic YPrFe17 compound by arc-melting. X-ray
and neutron powder diffraction show that the crystal structure is rhombohedral
with View the MathML source space group (Th2Zn17-type). The investigated
compound exhibits a broad isothermal magnetic entropy change {\Delta}SM(T)
associated with the ferro-to-paramagnetic phase transition (TC \approx 290 K).
The |{\Delta}SM| (\approx 2.3 J kg-1 K-1) and the relative cooling power
(\approx 100 J kg-1) have been calculated for applied magnetic field changes up
to 1.5 T. A single master curve for {\Delta}SM under different values of the
magnetic field change can be obtained by a rescaling of the temperature axis.
The results are compared and discussed in terms of the magneto-caloric effect
in the isostructural R2Fe17 (R = Y, Pr and Nd) binary intermetallic alloys.
