Enhanced Curie temperature and cooling efficiency in melt-extracted Gd50(Co69.25Fe4.25Si13B13.5)50 microwires

We report enhancements of both Curie temperature and magnetic refrigerant capacity in Gd-50(Co69.25Fe4.25Si13B13.5)(50) microwires, which were fabricated by the melt-extraction method. For a field change of 5 T, the maximum magnetic entropy change (Delta S-M(max)), the refrigerant capacity (RC) and relative cooling power (RCP) reached high values of 6.56 J kg(-1) K-1, 625 J kg(-1) and 826 J kg(-1), respectively. While the RC is similar to those of our previously reported GdAlCo microwires, a much broader working temperature range of similar to 126 K and a higher Curie temperature of 170 K make the Gd-50(Co69.25Fe4.25Si13B13.5)(50) microwires more attractive for active magnetic refrigeration. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.