Magnetic refrigeration materials

摘要

Magnetic refrigeration has drawn much attention because of its greater efficiency and higher reliability than the traditional gas-cycle refrigeration technology. Recently, a kind of new materials with a giant magnetocaloric ef- fect in the subroom temperature range, Gd_5 (Si_x Ge_1-x)_4, was discovered, which bootst the search for high-performance magnetic refrigerants. However, the intermetallic compounds Gd_5 (Si_xGe_1-x)_4 belong to the first order transition materi- als; their performance in practical magnetic refrigeration cycles remains controversial. In this paper the developing ten- dency of the refrigerants are discussed on the basis of our work.