DOE OSTI · 1577117
Fatigue-resistant high-performance elastocaloric materials made by additive manufacturing
Abstract
Elastocaloric cooling, a solid-state cooling technology, displays the latent heat released and absorbed by stress-induced phase transformations. Hysteresis associated with transformation, however, is detrimental to efficient energy conversion and functional durability. Here, we have created thermodynamically efficient, low-hysteresis elastocaloric cooling materials by means of additive manufacturing of nickel-titanium. The utilization of a localized molten environment and near-eutectic mixing of elemental powders has led to the formation of nanocomposite microstructures composed of a nickel-rich intermetallic compound interspersed among a binary alloy matrix. The microstructure allowed extremely small hysteresis in quasi-linear stress-strain behaviors—enhancing the materials efficiency by a factor of four to seven—and repeatable elastocaloric performance over 1 million cycles. Implementing additive manufacturing to elastocaloric cooling materials enables distinct microstructure control of high-performance metallic refrigerants with long fatigue life.
Explore related subjects
Keep this discovery
Explore connections, maps & timelines
Hou, Huilong, Simsek, Emrah, Ma, Tao, Johnson, Nathan S., Qian, Suxin, Cissé, Cheikh, Stasak, Drew, Al Hasan, Naila, Zhou, Lin, Hwang, Yunho, Radermacher, Reinhard, Levitas, Valery I., Kramer, Matthew J., Zaeem, Mohsen Asle, Stebner, Aaron P., Ott, Ryan T., Cui, Jun, Takeuchi, Ichiro. 2019-11-29. Fatigue-resistant high-performance elastocaloric materials made by additive manufacturing. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aax7616
Cite the original work for its findings. Save a collection to share your selection of sources.