Enhancement of Refrigeration Capacity and Table-Like Magnetocaloric Effect in LaFe 10.7Co 0.8Si 1.5/ La 0.6Pr 0.4Fe 10.7Co 0.8Si 1.5 Composite

Abstract

In this work, we have investigated the magnetocaloric effect (MCE) in a two-phase composite system (LaFeCoSi) 1−x/(LaPrFeCoSi) x based on LaFe 10.7 Co 0.8Si 1.5 and La 0.6Pr 0.4Fe 10.7Co 0.8Si 1.5 with Curie temperature values 275 and 295 K, respectively. The temperature dependence of the isothermal magnetic entropy change, ΔS(T), has been calculated for the biphasic system with 0<x<1. The optimum MCE properties, i.e., a ΔS(T) curve with table-like shape, has been found in the temperature interval of 271–287 K for the composite with x = 0.45 at 5 T. The |ΔSM| of the composite come close to a constant value of 9.78 J/(kg K) in a field change of 0–5 T in a wide temperature span over 16 K resulting in large refrigerant capacity value of ∼534.45 J/kg. This composite can be used as the working material in the Ericsson cycle magnetic regenerative refrigerator. Our findings constitute a good starting point to stimulate the search for new composites with enhanced MCE properties near room temperature.