Mastering hysteresis in magnetocaloric materials
- 13 August 2016
- journal article
- Published by The Royal Society in Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences
- Vol. 374 (2074), 20150308
- https://doi.org/10.1098/rsta.2015.0308
Abstract
Hysteresis is more than just an interesting oddity that occurs in materials with a first-order transition. It is a real obstacle on the path from existing laboratory-scale prototypes of magnetic refrigerators towards commercialization of this potentially disruptive cooling technology. Indeed, the reversibility of the magnetocaloric effect, being essential for magnetic heat pumps, strongly depends on the width of the thermal hysteresis and, therefore, it is necessary to understand the mechanisms causing hysteresis and to find solutions to minimize losses associated with thermal hysteresis in order to maximize the efficiency of magnetic cooling devices. In this work, we discuss the fundamental aspects that can contribute to thermal hysteresis and the strategies that we are developing to at least partially overcome the hysteresis problem in some selected classes of magnetocaloric materials with large application potential. In doing so, we refer to the most relevant classes of magnetic refrigerants La–Fe–Si-, Heusler- and Fe 2 P-type compounds. This article is part of the themed issue ‘Taking the temperature of phase transitions in cool materials’.Keywords
Other Versions
Funding Information
- European Community's 7th framework (310748)
- Darmstadt Graduate School of Excellence Energy Science and Engineering (GSC 1070)
This publication has 99 references indexed in Scilit:
- Inconvenient magnetocaloric effect in ferromagnetic shape memory alloysJournal of Alloys and Compounds, 2013
- Magnetocaloric materials: The search for new systemsScripta Materialia, 2012
- Magnetic Materials and Devices for the 21st Century: Stronger, Lighter, and More Energy EfficientAdvanced Materials, 2010
- Evaluating the effect of magnetocaloric properties on magnetic refrigeration performanceJournal of Applied Physics, 2010
- Thirty years of near room temperature magnetic cooling: Where we are today and future prospectsInternational Journal of Refrigeration, 2008
- The Magnetocaloric Effect and its ApplicationsPublished by Taylor & Francis Ltd ,2003
- Magnetocaloric MaterialsAnnual Review of Materials Science, 2000
- Description and Performance of a Near-Room Temperature Magnetic RefrigeratorPublished by Springer Science and Business Media LLC ,1998
- Tunable magnetic regenerator alloys with a giant magnetocaloric effect for magnetic refrigeration from ∼20 to ∼290 KApplied Physics Letters, 1997
- Giant Magnetocaloric Effect inPhysical Review Letters, 1997