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.

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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.

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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 […]

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