The isothermal section of the phase diagram of the Tb-Co-Cr ternary system at 873 K was investigated by means of X-ray diffraction, metallography, and scanning electron microscopy equipped with energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. Ternary phases and their lattice parameters as a function of composition of solid solution were systematically studied. The existence of one ternary phase reported previously was confirmed. The ternary compound Tb(Co, Cr) 12 crystallizes with ThMn 12 -type structure, space group I4/mmm. The linear homogeneity range along the line of 7.69 at.% Tb in TbCo 12Àx Cr x was found to be about x ¼ 3.6-5.7, i.e., 27.7-43.8 at.% Cr. The lattice parameters are a ¼ 0.8326-0.8352 nm and c ¼ 0.4709-0.4740 nm. The maximum solid solubilities of Cr in Tb 2 Co 17 , TbCo 3 , and TbCo 2 are about 20.0, 8.2, and 7.9 at.%, respectively.Keywords: Tb-Co-Cr ternary systems; phase diagrams; X-ray diffraction; scanning electron microscopy 1. Introduction Due to its high efficiency, energy saving and environmental awareness, magnetic refrigeration (MR) is becoming a promising technology to replace the conventional gascompression refrigeration [1,2]. Much attention has been paid to the properties of the R-Co (R stands for a rare earth element) system, while the RCo 5 and R 2 Co 17 -type compounds show outstanding magnetic properties, some RCo 2 -type alloys show a large magnetocaloric effect in a low magnetic field and their Curie temperature T c can vary in a very large temperature range [3][4][5]. For improving some magnetic properties, the substitution for Co in the R-Co system compounds by other transition element also has been extensively studied [6,7]. The phase diagram can provide important information for developing new materials. To further understand the relations between formation of the compounds and their properties, the investigation of the phase diagram of the relevant systems is useful. The phase diagrams of Er-Co-V [8], Gd-Co-V [9], Dy-Co-Ti [10], and Dy-Co-V [11], etc. ternary systems have been reported in the literature. So far, no phase diagram of the Tb-Co-Cr ternary system is described. In this study, we investigated the phase equilibria in the Tb-Co-Cr ternary system at 873 K.