Microstructure and magnetocaloric properties of melt-extracted La–Fe–Si microwires

• LaFe11.6Si1.4 microwires were fabricated by utilizing the melt-extraction method.
• The wires have an average diameter of 50 μm.
• The geometry of wires fits the requirement of application in AMR systems.
• Microstructure and Magnetocaloric properties of these wires were studied.
• A large entropy change of 9.0 J/kgK was obtained for the wires with the 1:13 phase of about 76 vol%.

LaFe11.6Si1.4 microwires with an average diameter of 50 μm have been fabricated by utilizing the melt-extraction method. The geometry of wires fits the requirement of magnetic refrigerants when applied in active magnetic regenerator (AMR) systems. Magnetocaloric properties of these wires are comparable to those for the bulk sample with the equivalent NaZn13-type phase (i.e. the 1:13 phase), making them the promising refrigerants toward application.