Effect of Fe substitution on magnetocaloric effects and glass-forming ability in Gd-based metallic glasses

In this work, we report on the systematic variation of the glass-forming ability (GFA) and magnetocaloric effect (MCE) in Gd55Co20-xAl24Si1Fex (x = 0, 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 at%) metallic glasses (MGs), which are potential candidates for magnetocaloric cooling applications. The addition of Fe broadens the full width of half maximum of magnetic entropy change (delta T-FWHM), thereby greatly increases the refrigeration capacity (RC). Accordingly, the delta T-FWHM as large as 118 K, magnetic entropy change vertical bar Delta S-M vertical bar of 7.26 J kg(-1)K(-1) at 130 K, and corresponding large RC of 857 J kg(-1) under applied field of 5 T are obtained for the composition with 5 at% Fe substitution. By increasing the atomic fraction of Fe dopants, the Curie temperature T-c increases systematically at the same time. Such high GFA of novel Gd-based MGs with large MCE makes them attractive candidates for magnetic refrigeration applications in the future.