Chapters authored
Magnetocaloric Effects in Metamagnetic Shape Memory Alloys
Recently, metamagnetic shape memory alloys have attracted much attention as candidates for the rare-earth free magnetic refrigerants. These materials undergo the martensitic transformation (MT) at around room temperature accompanied by a significant entropy change. The application of the magnetic field at the low-temperature martensitic phase realizes the magnetic field-induced martensitic transformation (MFIMT). Through the MFIMT, the materials show an unconventional magnetocaloric effect (MCE), which is called inverse magnetocaloric effect (IMCE). In this chapter, the direct measurement system of MCE in pulsed-high-magnetic fields is introduced. With taking the advantage of the fast field-sweep rate of pulsed field, adiabatic measurements of MCE are carried out at various temperatures. Using this technique, the IMCEs of the metamagnetic shape memory alloys NiCoMnIn and NiCoMnGa are directly measured as adiabatic temperature changes in pulsed fields. From the experimental data of MCE for NiCoMnIn, the entropy of spin system in the austenite phase is estimated through a simple mean-field model. By the combination of MCE, magnetization and specific heat measurements, the electronic, lattice and magnetic contributions to the IMCE are individually evaluated. The result for NiCoMnIn demonstrates that lattice entropy plays the dominant role for IMCE in this material.
Part of the book: Shape Memory Alloys