2021, Beyer, L., Weise, B., Freudenberger, J., Hufenbach, J.K., Gottschall, T., Krautz, M.

Gd cladded in a seamless 316L austenitic steel tube has been swaged into wires by the powder-in-tube (PIT) technology, resulting in an outer diameter of 1 mm, a wall thickness of approx. 100 µm and a filling factor of around 62 vol%. Such wires provide an advantageous geometry for heat exchangers and have the benefit to protect the Gadolinium, i.e. from corrosion when being in contact with a heat transfer fluid. The magnetocaloric composite has been studied by static and pulsed magnetic-field measurements in order to evaluate the performance of Gd as a core material. By the analysis of magnetization and heat capacity data, the influences of deformation-induced defects on Gadolinium are presented. The subsequent heat treatment at 773 K for 1 h in Ar atmosphere allowed restoring the magnetic properties of the wire after deformation. Data of the pulsed magnetic-field measurements on the Gd-filled PIT-wires and a Gd–core separated from the jacket are presented, with an achievable temperature change of 1.2 K for the wire and 5.2 K for the Gd in 2 T, respectively. A comparison to previously studied La(Fe, Co, Si)13-filled composite wires is included. It indicates that performance losses due to the passive matrix material cannot be overcome only by an increased adiabatic temperature change of the core material, but instead the wire components need to be chosen regarding an optimized heat capacity ratio, as well.

2018, Funk, Alexander, Freudenberger, Jens, Waske, Anja, Krautz, Maria

The powder-in-tube (PIT) technology was applied to La(Fe, Co, Si)13 powder cladded by a thin seamless austenitic steel jacket. Wires appear to be promising in the search for alternative regenerator geometries, since they offer various possibilities of arrangements allowing to optimise heat transfer and pressure loss within the boundaries set by parallel plate and sphere beds. Here, pre-alloyed La(Fe, Co, Si)13 powder was filled in a AISI 316L austenitic steel tube and swaged to wires with an outer diameter of 1 mm. By mechanical deformation, the steel jacket thickness was reduced to about 100 μm surrounding the magnetocaloric core. A post-annealing of only 10 min at 1050 °C is sufficient to form the magnetocaloric NaZn13-type phase resulting in an entropy change close to the value of a pure reference sample. The presented technology is not limited to La(Fe, Co, Si)13/steel combination but can be extended to material pairs involving wire core materials with a first order transition, such as Fe2P-type or Heusler alloys.