Magnetic alloys for efficient hydrogen cooling – pv magazine International

National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS), Tohoku University and Japan Synchrotron Radiation Research Institute (JASRI) have developed a series of Er(Ho)Co2-based magnetic cooling alloys that can be used to efficiently cool hydrogen from 77 K to 20 K. This temperature range, according to the scientists, represents a wide operating temperature window due to the stacking of the refrigerants covering the range of application temperatures for hydrogen liquefaction, easy fabrication, and stable magnetocaloric properties of gas-atomized particles. Prior to this research, Er(Ho)Co2-based magnetic compounds’ cooling capability was previously not reversible due to their poor cyclic performance. “These problems are overcome in this work. This research group discovered that by adding trace amounts of 3d transition metal elements make the compounds resistant to deterioration caused by…

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