Epoxy-bonded La-Fe-Co-Si magnetocaloric platesPulko, Barbara (Avtor) Tušek, Jaka (Avtor) Moore, James D. (Avtor) Weise, Bruno (Avtor) Skokov, Konstantin (Avtor) Mityashkin, Oleg (Avtor) Kitanovski, Andrej (Avtor) Favero, Chiara (Avtor) Fajfar, Peter (Avtor) Gutfleisch, Oliver (Avtor) Waske, Anja (Avtor) Poredoš, Alojz (Avtor) magnetocaloric effectmagnetic refrigerationLa-Fe-Co-Siactive magnetic regeneratorepoxyWe report the processing, analysis and testing of magnetocaloric composite materials consisting of La-Fe-Co-Si particles of various size fractions and a polymer matrix. All of the composites have working temperatures close to room temperature. The composites were pressed into thin plates, a geometry favorable for testing the composites in an active magnetic regenerator (AMR). In order to investigate the influence of particle size and binder type (epoxy), eight different epoxy-bonded La-Fe-Co-Si plates were made and analyzed. We found that the higher filling factor that can be achieved by using a mixture of several particle size fractions has beneficial influence on the thermal conductivity. Tests in the AMR revealed that a maximum temperature span of approximately T=10 K under magnetic field change of 0H=1.15 T can be obtained at no cooling load conditions. The stability of the measured T values and the mechanical integrity of sample after cyclic application of a magnetic field have been monitored for 90,000 cycles and showed no significant changes. We therefore conclude that epoxy-bonded La-Fe-Co-Si magnetocaloric composites have good magnetocaloric properties at low material-processing costs and hence represent a competitive way to produce magnetocaloric materials to be used in AMR.20152021-04-15 22:17:24Članek v reviji126300sl