Magnetic Properties and Magnetocaloric Effect of Fe 90– x Nd x Zr 10 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 $\sim 15~\mu \text{m}$ , 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_{\mathbf {c}} Oe). The ribbons exhibit large magnetocaloric effect ( $\vert \Delta \text{S}_{\mathrm {m}}\vert _{\max } > 1.6~\text{J}\,\cdot \,\, \text{kg}^{-1}\,\cdot \, \text{K}^{{-1}}$ for a magnetic field change of 12 kOe) at room temperature. In addition, a large working temperature range ( $\delta _{\text {TFWHM}} >60$ K) is found, which together with the large magnetic entropy change yields the large cooling efficiency desirable for active magnetic refrigeration.