Microstructural features and magnetocaloric properties of Ni52Mn26Ga22 melt-spun ribbons were studied. Results show that there are four types of differently oriented variants of seven-layered modulated (7M) martensite at room temperature, being twin-related one another and clustered in colonies. Due to the coupled magnetic and structural transformations between parent austenite and 7M martensite, the melt-spun ribbons exhibit a significant magnetocaloric effect. At an applied magnetic field of 5 T, an absolute maximum value of the isothermal magnetic entropy change of 11.4 J kg−1 K−1 is achieved with negligible hysteresis losses.
Magnetization reversal and exchange coupling are investigated in Pr-Fe-B melt-spun ribbons. In nanocomposite magnets, not only does the coercivity decrease but also magnetization reversal becomes more non-uniform in hard grains. The non-uniform magnetization reversal, resulting in a deterioration of squareness in hysteresis loop and a drop of the maximum Henkel plot value, mainly is caused by random arrangement of easy axes and intergranular soft regions among hard grains even with well exchange coupling between soft-hard grains in these ribbons. It is expected that the uniformity in magnetization reversal could be improved with the perfection of easy axes alignment in anisotropy nanocomposites.
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