Large and reversible elastocaloric effect in dual-phase Ni54Fe19Ga27 superelastic alloys

In this work, we report elastocaloric effect (eCE) in Ni-Fe-Ga polycrystalline alloys. By application of a uniaxial compressive stress of 170 MPa at 298 K, a large and recoverable temperature change of 4K has been obtained in precipitates-containing Ni54Fe19Ga27 alloys. The degradation of eCE is insensitive to 100 loading-unloading cycles. In comparison, the loss of mechanical integrity occurs in the single-phase alloy suffering from only 10 superelastic cycles, implying a short fatigue life. Good mechanical properties, large and equivalent adiabatic temperature change (DT) under loading-unloading cycle render dual-phase Ni-Fe-Ga promising candidate materials for solid-state mechanical cooling application at ambient conditions. (C) 2015 AIP Publishing LLC.