Giant magnetocaloric materials could lead to new refrigeration technologies

User rating: 4.3 / 5 after 20 vote(s)

Spin density contour plots for Gd5Si2Ge2 show dramatic changes when Ge2 covalent bonds break at the magnetostructural transition responsible for the giant magnetocaloric effect in this material. (Calculations by Y. Lee and B. Harmon.)
Spin density contour plots for Gd5Si2Ge2 show dramatic changes when Ge2 covalent bonds break at the magnetostructural transition responsible for the giant magnetocaloric effect in this material. (Calculations by Y. Lee and B. Harmon.)

Materials that change temperature in magnetic fields could lead to new refrigeration technologies that reduce the use of greenhouse gases, thanks to new research at the U.S. Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory and Ames National Laboratory.


Full story »
All News summaries from Physics news
All News summaries for June 20, 2007

The Lightness of Electrons in a Twisting Metal Crystal

5 hours ago | User rating: not rated yet
(PhysOrg.com) -- A team of researchers at Princeton University's Materials Research Science and Engineering Center has observed electrons moving through a crystal of bismuth metal behaving like light.

Proposed Particle Help Explains Odd Galactic Photons

11 hours ago | User rating: not rated yet
In 2002, a satellite called INTEGRAL was launched by the European Space Agency with an instrument on board to detect and measure gamma rays from space. Four years later, it yielded some intriguing data: An unusually high ...

Electron microscopy enters the picometer scale

Jul 24, 2008 | User rating: not rated yet
Jülich scientists have succeeded in precisely measuring atomic spacings down to a few picometres using new methods in ultrahigh-resolution electron microscopy. This makes it possible to find out decisive parameters ...

Revolutionary materials reflect ancient forms

Jul 24, 2008 | User rating: not rated yet
(PhysOrg.com) -- Although order is pleasing to the eye, it can quickly become boring. In Islamic architecture therefore, decoration often follows a strict yet aperiodic pattern. Similar structures also form ...

Shielding for ambitious neutron experiment

Jul 24, 2008 | User rating: not rated yet
In science fiction stories it is either the inexhaustible energy source of the future or a superweapon of galactic magnitude: antimaterial. In fact, antimaterial can neither be found on Earth nor in space, is extremely complex ...
Goto Archive PhysOrg Forum Goto Archive Video Goto Archive Editorials Goto Archive Free Magazines Goto Archive Newsletter

News Archive