An international research team led by the University of Maryland has developed a novel elastocaloric cooling material that is highly efficient, eco-friendly and easily scaled-up for commercial use.
An international research team led by the University of Maryland has developed a novel elastocaloric cooling material that is highly efficient, eco-friendly and easily scaled-up for commercial use.
The researchers new cooling material is a nickel-titanium alloy that was sculpted using additive technology (3-D printing). Their work is published in the November 29 issue of Science.
Cooling technology, used in refrigeration and HVAC systems around the globe, is a multi-billion dollar business. Vapor compression cooling, which has dominated the market for over 150 years, has plateaued in efficiency, and uses chemical refrigerants with high global-warming potential. Solid-state elastocaloric cooling, in which stress is applied to materials to release and absorb (latent) heat, has been under development for the last decade and is a front-runner for alternative cooling technologies. Shape-memory alloys are found to display a significant elastocaloric cooling effect; however, hysteresis – work lost in each cycle, which causes fatigue and eventual failure of such materials – remains a challenge.
The international team of collaborators led by UMD Materials Science and Engineering (MSE) Professor, Ichiro Takeuchi, has developed an improved elastocaloric cooling material using a blend of nickel (Ni)-titanium (Ti) metals, forged using a 3D printer, that is not only potentially more efficient than current technology, but is completely ‘green.’ Moreover, it can be quickly scaled up for use in larger devices.
Read more at University of Maryland
