Table-like magnetocaloric effect in Gd56Ni15Al27Zr2 alloy and its field independence feature

In order to obtain “table-like” magnetocaloric effect (MCE), multiple-phase Gd56Ni15Al27Zr2 alloy was prepared by arc-melting followed by suck-casting method. Powder x-ray diffraction and calorimetric measurements reveal that the sample contains both glassy and crystalline phases. The fraction of the glassy phase is about 62%, estimated from the heat enthalpy of the crystallization. The crystalline phases, Gd2Al and GdNiAl further broadened the relatively wider magnetic entropy change (−ΔSM) peak of the amorphous phase, which resulted in the table-like MCE over a maximum temperature range of 52.5 K to 77.5 K. The plateau feature of the MCE was found to be nearly independent of the applied magnetic field from 3 T to 5 T. The maximum −ΔSMvalue of the MCE platforms is 6.0 J/kg K under applied magnetic field change of 5 T. Below 3 T, the field independence of the table-like feature disappears. The relatively large constant values of −ΔSM for the respective applied magnetic fields have promising applications in magnetic refrigeration using regenerative Ericsson cycle. Disciplines Electronic Devices and Semiconductor Manufacturing | Metallurgy | Quantum Physics Comments This article is published as Agurgo Balfour, E., Z. Ma, H. Fu, R. L. Hadimani, D. C. Jiles, L. Wang, Y. Luo, and S. F. Wang. "Table-like magnetocaloric effect in Gd56Ni15Al27Zr2 alloy and its field independence feature." Journal of Applied Physics 118, no. 12 (2015): 123903. DOI: 10.1063/1.4931765. Posted with permission. Authors E. Agurgo Balfour, Z. Ma, F. Hu, Ravi L. Hadimani, David C. Jiles, L. Wang, Y. Luo, and S. F. Wang This article is available at Iowa State University Digital Repository: http://lib.dr.iastate.edu/ameslab_pubs/407 Table-like magnetocaloric effect in Gd56Ni15Al27Zr2 alloy and its field independence feature E. Agurgo Balfour, Z. Ma, H. Fu, R. L. Hadimani, D. C. Jiles, L. Wang, Y. Luo, and S. F. Wang School of Physical Electronics, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu 610054, People’s Republic of China Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa 50011, USA Ames Laboratory, U.S. Department of Energy, Ames, Iowa 50011, USA North Electronic Device Research Institute, Beijing 100141, People’s Republic of China (Received 20 July 2015; accepted 15 September 2015; published online 28 September 2015) In order to obtain “table-like” magnetocaloric effect (MCE), multiple-phase Gd56Ni15Al27Zr2 alloy was prepared by arc-melting followed by suck-casting method. Powder x-ray diffraction and calorimetric measurements reveal that the sample contains both glassy and crystalline phases. The fraction of the glassy phase is about 62%, estimated from the heat enthalpy of the crystallization. The crystalline phases, Gd2Al and GdNiAl further broadened the relatively wider magnetic entropy change ( DSM) peak of the amorphous phase, which resulted in the table-like MCE over a maximum temperature range of 52.5 K to 77.5 K. The plateau feature of the MCE was found to be nearly independent of the applied magnetic field from 3 T to 5 T. The maximum DSM value of the MCE platforms is 6.0 J/kg K under applied magnetic field change of 5 T. Below 3 T, the field independence of the table-like feature disappears. The relatively large constant values of DSM for the respective applied magnetic fields have promising applications in magnetic refrigeration using regenerative Ericsson cycle. VC 2015 AIP Publishing LLC. [http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4931765]