Article ID Journal Published Year Pages File Type
5457503 Intermetallics 2017 5 Pages PDF
Abstract
We have fabricated melt-spun ribbons of nominal composition ErMn2 and studied their phase constitution and magnetocaloric (MC) properties by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), magnetization and heat capacity measurements. The major phase formed shows the MgZn2-type hexagonal structure (C14-type); however, both XRD and SEM analyses revealed the formation of impurity phases (i.e., Er6Mn23 and ErMn12). Ribbons exhibit a saturation magnetization of 149 Am2kg−1 at 2 K and a Curie temperature of TC = 15 K. A field-induced metamagnetic transition at very low critical magnetic fields was observed below 8 K that leads to a change of sign in the magnetic entropy change ΔSM below this temperature (ΔSMpeak = 2.5 Jkg−1K−1 at 2 K and 5 T). For a magnetic field change of 5 T (2 T) applied along the ribbon length, the samples show a large peak value of the magnetic entropy change ΔSMpeak of −20.5 (−10.8) Jkg−1K−1, a full-width at half-maximum δTFWHM for the ΔSM(T) curve of 20 (12) K, and a maximum adiabatic temperature change ΔTadmax of 7.4 (3.6) K. The obtained results are compared with the reported in literature by other authors for bulk alloys.
Related Topics
Physical Sciences and Engineering Materials Science Metals and Alloys
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