Microstructure and magnetocaloric properties in melt-spun and high-pressure hydrogenated La_0.5Pr_0.5Fe_11.4Si_1.6 ribbons

The effects of wheel speeds and high-pressure hydrogen treatment on phase evolution, microstructure, and magnetocaloric properties in La_0.5Pr_0.5Fe_11.4Si_1.6 melt-spun ribbons are studied in this work. The results reveal that the increase of wheel speed is beneficial to the formation of cubic NaZn₁₃-type phase and the grain refinement. The optimized wheel speed for microstructural and magnetocaloric properties is 30 m/s. The largest entropy change of 18.1 J/kg⋅K at 190 K under a magnetic field change of 0 T–5 T is obtained in La_0.5Pr_0.5Fe_11.4Si_1.6 ribbons melt-spun at 30 m/s. After a high-pressure hydrogen treatment of 50 MPa, the Curie temperature of the ribbons prepared at 30 m/s is adjusted to about 314 K and the large –ΔS _M of 17.9 J/kg⋅K under a magnetic field change of 0 T–5 T is achieved at room temperature with almost none hysteresis loss. The small thermal and magnetic hysteresis and the large –ΔS _M make the La_0.5Pr_0.5Fe_11.4Si_1.6 hydride ribbons appropriate for magnetic refrigerant applications around room temperature. (paper)