Extraordinary induction heating effect near the first order Curie transition

Abstract

While materials with a 1st order Curie transition (TC) are known for the magnetic cooling effect due to the reversibility of their large entropy change, they also have a great potential as a candidate material for induction heating where a large loss power is required under a limited alternating magnetic field. We have carried out a proof-of-concept study on the induction heating effect in 1st order ferromagnetic materials where the temperature is self-regulated at TC. LaFe11.57Si1.43H1.75, a well-known magnetocaloric material, was employed in this study because TC of this compound (319 K) resides in the ideal temperature range for hyperthermia treatment of cancerous cells. It is found that the hysteresis loss of LaFe11.57Si1.43H1.75 increases dramatically near TC due to the magnetic phase coexistence associated with the 1st order magnetic transition. The spontaneous magnetization (Ms) shows a very abrupt decrease from 110 Am2kg−1 at 316 K to zero at 319 K. This large Ms immediately below TC along with the enhanced irreversibility of the hysteresis curve result in a specific absorption rate as large as 0.5 kWg−1 under a field of 8.8 kAm−1 at 279 kHz. This value is nearly an order of magnitude larger than that observed under the same condition for conventional iron oxide-based materials. Moreover, the large heating effect is self-regulated at the 1st order TC (319 K). This proof-of-concept study shows that the extraordinary heating effect near the 1st order Curie point opens up a novel alloy design strategy for large, self-regulated induction heating.