Influence of Co-Doping on Magnetic Properties and Magnetocaloric Effect of Fe–Co–Zr–Cu–B Melt-Spun Ribbons

Abstract

In this work, we investigated magnetic properties and magnetocaloric effect in Fe90−xCoxZr7Cu1B2 (x = 0, 1, 2, 3 and 4) melt-spun ribbons. The ribbons were prepared by using a melt-spinning method with a tangential velocity of a copper wheel of 40 m·s-1. The obtained ribbons are almost amorphous. The alloys exhibit typical soft magnetic behavior with low coercivity at room temperature. A minor replacement of Fe by Co gives an increment in Curie temperature (TC) of the alloys to higher temperatures. The TC of the alloys increases from 242 to 342 K with an increase of x from 0 to 4. Maximum magnetic entropy change, ΔSm max, of the alloys, was found to be larger than 0.7 J·kg-1·K-1 in a magnetic field change ΔH of 12 kOe for all the concentrations of Co. High refrigerant capacitys (RC >100 J ·kg-1 with ΔH = 12 kOe) at room temperature region have been obtained for the alloys. The large magnetocaloric effect near room temperature suggests that the alloys can be considered as magnetic refrigerants in the range of 250–350 K.