Large Magnetic Entropy Change In Nd2in Near The Boiling Temperature Of Natural Gas

Natural gas is useful for the transition from traditional fossil fuels to renewable energies. The consumption of liquid natural gas has been rising, and the demand is predicted to double by 2040. In this context, magnetocaloric gas liquefaction, as an emerging and energy-saving technology, could be an alternative to the traditional gas-compression refrigeration. In this work, we report a large magnetic entropy change of 7.42J/kgK under a magnetic field change of 2T in Nd2In at 109K, which is near the boiling temperature of natural gas of 112K. The maximum adiabatic temperature change reaches 1.13K under a magnetic field change of 1.95T and is fully reversible. The magnetic phase transition is confirmed to be of the first-order type with the negligible thermal hysteresis. Further investigations on the thermal expansion and the magnetostriction reveal that the magnetic transition undergoes two stages with a negligible volume change. The longitudinal strain increases with magnetic fields and then decreases. These interesting properties are useful for the practical design of a magnetocaloric natural gas liquefaction system and for the fundamental understanding of the phase transitions in other RE2In intermetallics. Published under an exclusive license by AIP Publishing.