Magnetic Properties and Magnetocaloric Effect of Fe90–xNdxZr10 Rapidly Quenched Alloys

In this paper, we present the results of a systematic study of Fe
_90-x
Nd
_x
Zr
₁₀
(x = 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5) alloy ribbons with a thickness of ~15 μm, which were prepared by melt-spinning on a single roller system. X-ray diffraction patterns of the ribbons manifest their almost amorphous structure. Magnetization measurements show that the Curie temperature of the alloy can be tuned from 262 to 350 K by varying Nd concentration. Saturation magnetization of the alloy is found to increase with increasing Nd concentration. All the ribbons reveal a soft magnetic behavior with low coercivity (H
_c
<; 30 Oe). The ribbons exhibit large magnetocaloric effect (|ΔS
_m
|
_max
> 1.6 J · kg
^-1
· K
^-1
for a magnetic field change of 12 kOe) at room temperature. In addition, a large working temperature range (δ
_TFWHM
> 60 K) is found, which together with the large magnetic entropy change yields the large cooling efficiency desirable for active magnetic refrigeration.