Cooling Scheme Based on the AF-F Transition in Fe-Rh Alloys Induced by Tensile Stress

Abstract

A cooling scheme based on the first-order antiferromagnetism–ferromagnetism transition induced in the Fe–Rh alloy by one-dimensional tensile stress is proposed. Using the model S–T diagram for this alloy, the cooling cycles are drawn up based both on the latent heat of transition absorption and emission when the transition is induced isothermally and on the change in temperature of the alloy when the transition is induced adiabatically by applying tensile stress. The calculated values of the efficiency ε for the cycles are ∼35 at ΔT = 5 K and ∼27 at ΔT = 10 K, where ΔT is the difference between the temperature of the surroundings and that of the cooled body. These values are achieved using a tensile stress of ∼1 × 109 Pa. The high values of ε make it possible to consider Fe–Rh alloys near the equiatomic composition as an effective refrigerant for elastocaloric cooling near room temperature.