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 (Co 69.25 Fe 4.25 Si 13 B 13.5 ) 50 microwires, which were fabricated by the melt-extraction method. For a field change of 5 T, the maximum magnetic entropy change (−Δ 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 ∼126 K and a higher Curie temperature of 170 K make the Gd 50 (Co 69.25 Fe 4.25 Si 13 B 13.5 ) 50 microwires more attractive for active magnetic refrigeration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]