Magnetic Properties and Magnetocaloric Effect of Gd3Ni in Crystalline and Amorphous States

Abstract

The liquid quenched Gd3Ni alloy is observed to exhibit a ferromagnetic behavior below TC = 117 K unlike crystalline compound having an antiferromagnetic order at T < TN = 99 K. Rapid quenching from the melt results in a considerable enhancement of the magnetocaloric effect in Gd3Ni at low magnetic fields. The maximal value of the isothermal magnetic entropy change at a magnetic field change of 20 kOe for the amorphous Gd3Ni surpasses by more than 8 times the SM value for the polycrystalline counterpart. The relative cooling power for the amorphous Gd3Ni alloy is estimated as 265 J kg-1 and 676 J kg-1 at a magnetic field change of 20 kOe and 50 kOe, respectively.