Magnetocaloric properties of phenolic resin bonded La(Fe,Si) ₁₃-based plates and its use in a hybrid magnetic refrigerator

We present a simple hot press-based method for processing La(Fe,Si) ₁₃-based compounds consisting of La–Fe–Co–Si–C particles and phenolic resin. The magnetic entropy change Δ S per unit mass for the LaFe _10.87Co _0.63Si _1.5C _0.2/phenolic resin compounds have nearly the same magnitude with the base materials. With the content of phenolic resin of 5.0 wt%, the compound conductivity is 3.13 W⋅m ⁻¹⋅K ⁻¹. In order to measure the cooling performance of La(Fe,Si) ₁₃-based compounds, the La(Fe _{11.6– x} Co _x )Si _1.4C _0.15 ( x = 0.60, 0.65, 0.75, 0.80, 0.85)/phenolic resin compounds were pressed into thin plates and tested in a hybrid refrigerator that combines the active magnetic refrigeration effect with the Stirling cycle refrigeration effect. The test results showed that a maximum cooling power of 41 W was achieved over a temperature span of 30 K.