Large Glass-forming Ability and Magnetocaloric Effectin Gd 55 Co 20 Al 23 Si 2 Bulk Metallic Glass

In this study, we investigated the glass-forming ability (GFA) and magnetocaloric effect (MCE) of Gd 55 Co 20 Al 23 Si 2 bulk glassy alloy. It is found that the addition of 2 at% Si is effective for extension of the supercooled liquid region (ΔT x ), the ΔT x is 55 K for the Gd 55 Co 20 Al 25 glassy alloy, and increases to 79 K for the Gd 55 Co 20 Al 23 Si 2 alloy. As a result, Gd 55 Co 20 Al 23 Si 2 glassy alloys with diameters up to 5 mm were successfully synthesized. The alloys also exhibit large MCE, i.e., the magnetic entropy change (ΔS m ) of 8.9 J kg ?1 K ?1 , the full width at half maximum of the ΔSm (δT FWHM ) of 87 K, and the refrigerant capacity (RC) of 774 J kg ?1 .