Effect of Er Substitution on Magnetic and Magnetocaloric Properties of Nd60Ni40 Metallic Glass

In the present work, we selected an amorphous Nd60Ni40 alloy as a basic alloy and added Er with a higher effective magnetic moment and de Gennes factor to replace Nd for the purpose of improving the magnetocaloric performance of the Nd60Ni40 amorphous alloy. The formability, magnetization, and magnetocaloric behaviors of the Nd60-xErxNi40 (x = 5, 10, 15, 20) amorphous alloys were studied. It was found that Er substitution generally improved the glass formability, but simultaneously decreased the Curie temperature, coercivity, and magnetic entropy change peak of the basic alloy. The mechanism for these unexpected results was investigated, and it was supposed that the decreased Curie temperature and the deteriorated magnetocaloric properties may have resulted from the antiferromagnetic coupling between the Nd and Er atoms.