Magnetocaloric effect and magnetostriction of a binary Nd₅₀Co₅₀ metallic glass

The formability and magnetic properties of a low cost Nd₅₀Co₅₀ binary metallic glass were studied in the present work. The Nd₅₀Co₅₀ binary alloy was successfully vitrified into amorphous state with a poor but sufficient formability for glassy ribbon. The Nd₅₀Co₅₀ glassy sample exhibits a spin-glass-like behavior with a Curie temperature of ~ 78 K and a spin freezing temperature of ~ 61 K. The magnetocaloric properties of the Nd₅₀Co₅₀ glassy sample were poor and the mechanism involved was studied. The magnetostriction of the Nd₅₀Co₅₀ glassy sample under 5 T reached to 170 ppm at 30 K, which is not as high as those of Tb(Dy)-based amorphous alloys but much higher than those of TM-based metallic glasses. The binary Nd₅₀Co₅₀ alloy is expected to play a role as basic alloy for developing low-cost multicomponent metallic glasses with outstanding glass formability and magnetostriction.