Giant rotating magnetocaloric effect induced by highly texturing in polycrystalline DyNiSi compound

Abstract

Large rotating magnetocaloric effect (MCE) has been observed in some single crystals due to strong magnetocrystalline anisotropy. By utilizing the rotating MCE, a new type of rotary magnetic refrigerator can be constructed, which could be more simplified and efficient than the conventional one. However, compared with polycrystalline materials, the high cost and complexity of preparation for single crystals hinder the development of this novel magnetic refrigeration technology. For the first time, here we observe giant rotating MCE in textured DyNiSi polycrystalline material, which is larger than those of most rotating magnetic refrigerants reported so far. This result suggests that DyNiSi compound could be attractive candidate of magnetic refrigerants for novel rotary magnetic refrigerator. By considering the influence of demagnetization effect on MCE, the origin of large rotating MCE in textured DyNiSi is attributed to the coexistence of strong magnetocrystalline anisotropy and highly preferred orientation. Our study on textured DyNiSi not only provides a new magnetic refrigerant with large rotating MCE for low temperature magnetic refrigeration, but also opens a new way to exploit magnetic refrigeration materials with large rotating MCE, which will be highly beneficial to the development of rotating magnetic refrigeration technology.