Magnetocaloric effect in Fe-Ni-Zr alloys prepared by using the rapidly-quenched method

Fe90−xNixZr10 (x = 0, 5, 10, 15, 20 and 25) ribbons with various thicknesses were prepared by using a melt-spinning technique. The Curie temperature, TC, of the alloys dramatically decreased from ∼960 K to room temperature at high quenching rates. When the alloys had an amorphous structure, their TC strongly depended on the Ni concentration. The maximum entropy change, |ΔSm|max, with ΔH = 12 kOe, of the alloys was around 1 J·kg−1K−1 at room temperature. On the other hand, the full width at half maximum the entropy-change peak was quite large, ∼ 85 K, which was suitable for applications in magnetic refrigerators at room temperature.