Excellent Magnetocaloric Performance of the Fe87Ce13−xBx (x = 5, 6, 7) Metallic Glasses and Their Composite

Abstract

The novel Fe87Ce13−xBx (x = 5, 6, 7) metallic glass (MG) ribbons were fabricated in this work. The compositional dependence of glass forming ability (GFA), magnetic and magnetocaloric properties of these ternary MGs, and the mechanism involved was investigated. The GFA and Curie temperature (Tc) of the MG ribbons were found to improve with the boron content, and the peak value of magnetic entropy change (−ΔSmpeak) reaches a maximum of 3.88 J/(kg × K) under 5 T when x = 6. Based on the three results, we designed an amorphous composite that exhibits a table-shape magnetic entropy change (−ΔSm) profile with a rather high average −ΔSm (−ΔSmaverage~3.29 J/(kg × K) under 5 T) from 282.5 K to 320 K, which makes it a potential candidate for the highly efficient refrigerant in a domestic magnetic refrigeration appliance.

Effect of Minor Ce Substitution for Pr on the Glass Formability and Magnetocaloric Effect of a Fe88Zr4Pr4B4 Metallic Glass

“…Improving the −∆S m peak near RT as much as possible seems to be an effective way to improve the magnetocaloric properties of Fe-based MGs. In the previous study of Fe-Ce-B ternary MGs [56], Ce was partially replaced by B, and it was found that with the decrease in Ce atoms, the antiferromagnetic coupling between Ce and Fe atoms was weakened, resulting in the enhancement of 3d-3d interaction between Fe atoms and thus T c increased. In the study of Fe-Zr-B ternary MGs [32], it was found that by replacing Zr with Ce, T c decreased from 306 K to 283 K. In summary, the composition dependence of the MCE in the Fe-Zr-Pr-B quaternary amorphous alloys system can be explained by the antiferromagnetic coupling between Ce and Fe atoms and the Ce-Pr interaction caused by the introduction of Ce atoms, which may lead to the weakening of the 3d-3d interaction between Fe atoms.…”