The magnetocaloric effect in (Dy,Tb)Co2 alloys

Abstract Series of Tb x Dy 1− x Co 2 alloys ( x = 0.1, 0.3, 0.5, 0.7, 0.9) were prepared by arc-melting method. All the alloys were found to be the pure Laves phase, indicating the continuous solid (Dy,Tb)Co 2 solution formed from DyCo 2 and TbCo 2 . The maximal change of entropy Δ S M decreases from 8.86 to 2.64 J/kg K under magnetic field change of 0–1.5 T as Tb content increases from 0.1 to 0.9, due to the change of transition type from first-order to second-order. The results of Arrott plots and Inoue-Shimizu model confirmed the transition type changes from first-order to second-order occurs with Tb content x between 0.1 and 0.3.