Effect of configuration entropy on magnetocaloric effect of rare earth high-entropy alloy

Abstract In this work, the relationship between configuration entropy and isothermal magnetic entropy change (ΔSM) of rare earth high-entropy alloys (HEAs) was studied. The results show that the matrix of rare earth HEAs GdTbHoEr exhibits the largest refrigerant capacity up to now (about 924.48 J kg−1 at a 5 T magnetic field). With the addition of non-magnetic elements La and Y, the configuration entropy increases, but the values of ΔSM and the refrigerant capacity decrease from 8.64 to 5.85 J kg−1K−1, 924.48–245.70 J kg−1, respectively. Further, the magnetic element Pr was added to GdTbHoEr, which also increased the configuration entropy and provided magnetism, but the ΔSM of the HEAs GdTbHoErPr (6.92 J kg−1K−1) still decreased. The analysis shows that the magnetocaloric effect of HEAs just depend on the intrinsic magnetic characteristics of rare earth elements with 4 f electrons and are independent of configuration entropy.