Abstract

In this work we report the magnetocaloric behavior of rapidly solidified polycrystalline alloy ribbons of the RNi2 Laves phase (R = Dy, Tb). They crystallize in a C15 cubic MgCu2-type structure (space group Fd-3m) and a superstructure of the Laves phase (space group F-43m), respectively. For a magnetic field change of 2 T the intermetallic compound DyNi2 (TbNi2) shows a magnetic entropy change |ΔSM peak| of 13.5 J kg-1 K-1 (8.0 J kg-1 K-1) and a RC-1 of 209 J kg-1 (166 J kg-1). While the magnetocaloric response of TbNi2 ribbons is similar to that reported for bulk alloys, in the case of DyNi2 the anisotropic behavior of magnetization together with the crystallographic texture induced during the melt-spinning fabrication process combine favorably to improve |ΔSM peak| (25%) and RC-1 (49 %) for a magnetic field change of 2 T, with respect to data reported for bulk alloys.