Magnetocaloric properties and critical behavior of high relative cooling power FeNiB nanoparticles

Low cost magnetocaloric nanomaterials have attracted considerable attention for energy efficient applications. We report a very high relative cooling power (RCP) in a study of the magnetocaloric effect in quenched FeNiB nanoparticles. RCP increases from 89.8 to 640 J kg(-1) for a field change of 1 and 5 T, respectively, these values are the largest for rare earth free iron based magnetocaloric nanomaterials. To investigate the magnetocaloric behavior around the Curie temperature (T-C), the critical behavior of these quenched nanoparticles was studied. Detailed analysis of the magnetic phase transition using the modified Arrott plot, Kouvel-Fisher method, and critical isotherm plots yields critical exponents of beta = 0.364, gamma = 1.319, delta = 4.623, and alpha = -0.055, which are close to the theoretical exponents obtained from the 3D-Heisenberg model. Our results indicate that these FeNiB nanoparticles are potential candidates for magnetocaloric fluid based heat pumps and low grade waste heat recovery. (C) 2014 AIP Publishing LLC.