LAUSR

Abstract In order to reduce the worsen effects of strong antiferromagnetic coupling between Er and Fe, Co, Ni elements on the magnetocaloric effect of Er based amorphous alloys, an Er45Cu45Al10 metallic glass composite is fabricated and its magnetocaloric effect is studied. The alloy exhibits large magnetic entropy change (14.6 Jkg−1K−1) and high refrigerant capacity (330 Jkg−1) under a magnetic field of 5 T, which is a promising candidate for a magnetic refrigerant in helium liquefaction temperature range. It is intriguing that the entropy change normalized to the rare earth elements for this Er45Cu45Al10 alloy is much higher than other Er-based metallic glasses, which is attributed to the weaker antiferromagnetic interactions between Er and Cu. These results are helpful for designing advanced rare earth-based magnetocaloric materials.