Thermal Response of Magnetic Refrigerants: Combined Effect of Temperature Dependent Specific Heat and Thermal Conductivity

Device optimization plays a paramount role in current research on magnetic refrigeration. Solid state refrigerants have been characterized and numerical simulations assume a critical relevance in the development of magnetocaloric technology to have alternatives to vapour-compression systems whose operating elements have high global warming potential. Experimental studies have shown that the thermal properties of several magnetocaloric materials considerably change around their Curie temperatures (TC) and that this temperature dependency should not be dismissed. Current numerical research does not fully predict the complete thermal response of such materials, due to inaccuracies from neglecting the impact of combining both thermal conductivity (k) and specific heat (Cp) dependence on temperature. In this study, a simple unidimensional model includes k(T) and Cp(T) functions as input parameters, highlighting the relevance of considering temperature dependent thermophysical properties’ inputs when simulating the magnetic refrigerant’s heat transfer processes. The obtained results evidence that neglecting the temperature dependence of the magnetocaloric material thermophysical properties, namely its thermal conductivity and its specific heat, affects its temperature response, what may strongly affect the results after a succession of (hundreds or thousands) cycles.