Effect of Pr and Nd replacement for Zr on the magnetic and magnetocaloric properties of the Fe88Zr10B ₂ amorphous alloy

The magnetic and magnetocaloric properties of the Fe88M10B2 (M [Formula: see text] Zr, Pr, and Nd) amorphous alloys (AAs) are studied comparatively in this work. It is found that the Curie temperature (Tc) of the Fe88M10B2 (M [Formula: see text] Zr, Pr, and Nd) increased from 276[Formula: see text]K for M [Formula: see text] Zr to 315 K for M [Formula: see text] Pr and 330[Formula: see text]K for M [Formula: see text] Nd, while the maximum magnetic entropy change ([Formula: see text]Smpeak) improved from [Formula: see text]1.28 J/(kg[Formula: see text] [Formula: see text] [Formula: see text]K) under 1.5 T and 3.18[Formula: see text]J/(kg[Formula: see text] [Formula: see text] [Formula: see text]K) under 5[Formula: see text]T for M [Formula: see text] Zr, to [Formula: see text]1.83[Formula: see text]J/(kg[Formula: see text] [Formula: see text] [Formula: see text]K) under 1.5 T and 4.54[Formula: see text]J/(kg[Formula: see text] [Formula: see text] [Formula: see text]K) under 5 T for M [Formula: see text] Pr, and to [Formula: see text]1.81[Formula: see text]J/(kg[Formula: see text] [Formula: see text] [Formula: see text]K) under 1.5 T and 4.45[Formula: see text]J/(kg[Formula: see text] [Formula: see text] [Formula: see text]K) under 5 T for M [Formula: see text] Nd. The mechanisms for the enhanced Tc as well as [Formula: see text]Smpeak by the rare-earth (RE) substitution for Zr are investigated. The results are valuable for optimizing the magnetocaloric effect of Fe–Zr–B-based amorphous alloys.