The influence of gallium on magnetocaloric effect in Gd60Tb40 alloys

The influences of gallium substitution for terbium in Gd60Tb40 on the phase formation, Curie temperature and magnetic entropy change have been investigated. A series of Gd60Tb40−xGax with x=0, 1, 3 and 5 alloys were prepared by arc-melting method. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis reveals that a small amount of Ga substitution for terbium in Gd60Tb40 can form the solid solution (Gd, Tb). The Curie temperature (Tc) increases from 270 K for Gd60Tb40 to 297 K for Gd60Tb37Ga3, while the maximum magnetic entropy changes ΔSM, max decreases from 5.15 J/K kg for Gd60Tb40 to 3.32 J/K kg for Gd60Tb37Ga3 with increasing the Ga content.