Abstract
A magnetocaloric effect with wide tunability was observed in melt-spun amorphous Gd65Fe15-xCo5+xAl10Si5 (x = 0, 5, 10) alloys of different Fe/Co ratios. Their magnetic properties were compared with those of the previously investigated parent alloy Gd65Fe10Co10Al15. The glassy structure of the melt-spun samples was confirmed by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and 57Fe Mössbauer spectrometry. Their Curie temperatures (TC) were between 155 and 195 K and increased significantly with decreasing Co content. The highest value of the magnetic entropy change ΔSM = − 6.8 J/kg K was obtained for Gd65Fe5Co15Al10Si5, when the magnetic field was increased from 0 to 5 T. Refrigerant capacity (RC) takes values close to 700 J/kg for the whole series of the alloys. The occurrence of the second-order phase transition and the conformity of the magnetic behavior with the mean field model were concluded on the basis of the analysis of the universal curves and the values of the exponent n (ΔSM ∝ Hn).Graphical abstract
Highlights
The magnetocaloric effect (MCE), discovered in 1881 by Warburg [1], results in temperature changes in a magnetic material subjected to an external magnetic field
Current research driven by a strong demand for magnetic cooling as an environmentally friendly and efficient technology, focuses on systems such as amorphous and nanostructured bulk materials, as well as thin films, multilayers, and quantum dots
The solutions based on these systems are realizations of the idea of energy harvesting associated with the search for new methods for efficient energy production and cooling or heating processes
Summary
The magnetocaloric effect (MCE), discovered in 1881 by Warburg [1], results in temperature changes in a magnetic material subjected to an external magnetic field. Alternative to the commonly applied refrigeration techniques, has increased since the discovery of the giant magnetocaloric effect (GMCE) in 1997 in the compound Gd5Si2Ge2 [2]. This physical phenomenon has been widely studied mainly in intermetallic compounds and in many classes of materials with different chemical compositions. Current research driven by a strong demand for magnetic cooling as an environmentally friendly and efficient technology, focuses on systems such as amorphous and nanostructured bulk materials, as well as thin films, multilayers, and quantum dots. There has been great interest in new high performance magnetocaloric materials characterized by high magnetic entropy (DSM) and adiabatic temperature changes (DTad)
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