Highly sensitive elastocaloric response in a directionally solidified Ni50Mn33In15.5Cu1.5 alloy with strong A preferred orientation

Abstract Solid-state elastocaloric cooling based on elastocaloric effect resulting from superelastic martensitic transformation has been conceived as a very competitive alternative to the conventional vapor-compression refrigeration. Reducing the driving stress of elastocaloric effect is very beneficial to the miniaturization and compactness of refrigeration devices. Here, we demonstrate large elastocaloric effect driven by low stress in a directionally solidified Ni50Mn33In15.5Cu1.5 alloy. Owing to the coarse columnar shaped grains with strong A preferred orientation, large adiabatic temperature change (ΔTad) values up to −9.5 K and −11.4 K can be achieved on removing the relatively low compressive stress of 113 MPa and 150 MPa, respectively, showing the high sensitivity of elastocaloric response with the specific adiabatic temperature change (|ΔTad/σmax|) up to 83.5 K/GPa. Such value is much higher than those in other Ni–Mn-X based alloys reported previously.