Effect of Al doping on magnetocaloric effect and mechanical properties of La(FeSi)13-based alloys

Abstract

La(Fe,Si)13 is a candidate room temperature magnetic refrigeration material owing to its large magnetocaloric effect and an adjustable Curie temperature. The structure, magnetocaloric effect, and mechanical properties of La(Fe,Si)13 strongly depend on its microscopic atomic environment. Proportional doping of magnetic or ductile elements can improve its magnetocaloric and mechanical properties. Here, magnetocaloric effect, and mechanical properties of Al-doped La(Fe,Si)13 alloys were studied through density functional theory calculations and experiments. The experimental results show that the doping of Al can increase the Curie temperature of the alloy, broaden the full width at half maximum (FWHM) and improve the mechanical properties of the alloy. The density functional theory describes the magnetic transition and mechanical behavior of the alloy, which is consistent with the experimental results. Therefore, the appropriate doping of Al in La(FeSi)13 alloy can obtain good integrated refrigeration capacity, which is helpful to realize multi-stage refrigeration application in a wide temperature range.