Chapter 7 - Magnetocaloric Effect in Specially Designed Materials

Abstract

This review devoted to magnetocaloric effect (MCE) in specially designed materials is divided into three main sections. In the first section, the fundamental issues of magnetocaloric effect are explained, including the thermodynamics of MCE and magnetic phase transitions. In addition, there is a description of the different methods and experimental tools commonly utilized to measure the MCE in real materials, as well as the two most commonly used criteria for modeling the temperature dependence of the adiabatic temperature and magnetic entropy changes in any material, which are based on the Mean Field Theory. The second section focuses on materials with promising behavior for practical applications that are fabricated with unlike geometries, from powders to thin ribbons or composites, and making use of different processing techniques to optimize their magnetocaloric properties. In the third section, the technological applications of these materials to a new generation of refrigeration systems and magnetic regenerators are discussed.