Abstract

The inspection of simplified fabrication and/or processing routes in order to produce materials with attractive magnetocaloric properties is of paramount importance for the development of environmentally friendly magnetic cooling technology. In this work, we have made use of the melt-spinning technique to obtain directly single-phase Y2Fe17 polycrystalline ribbons avoiding any high-temperature annealing for phase consolidation and homogenization. The melt-spun ribbons, with hexagonal Th(2)ni(17)-type crystal structure, exhibit a moderate maximum value of the magnetic entropy change, vertical bar Delta S-M(peak)vertical bar - 2.4(4.4) J kg(-1) K-1 under an applied magnetic field change of 2(5) T. Although these values are similar to those for the bulk alloy, the Delta S-M(T) curves are manifestly broader, thus giving rise to an expansion of the working temperature range and the enhancement of about 15% in the refrigerant capacity. We also show that the magnetic field dependence of vertical bar Delta S-M(peak)vertical bar at T = T-C follows a H-2/3 power-law. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.