Mapping the magnetocaloric effect at the microscale on a ferromagnetic shape memory alloy with infrared thermography

An innovative study of the magnetocaloric effect (MCE) was performed by mapping the effect based on direct measurements of the temperature change during magnetic field cycles with microscopic resolution (85 μm) on a Co-doped Ni–Mn–Ga bulk sample using infrared thermography on the whole sample. The MCE maps were constructed for different sample temperatures (T sample), cycling both on heating (from 272.8 K up to T sample, with T sample ⩽ 327.0 K) and on cooling (from 340.0 K down to T sample, with T sample ⩾ 266.8 K), cycling a 1.2 T magnetic field at each T sample value. The MCE maps were calculated to evaluate the amplitude of the effect at the microscale for all T sample values. This allows to analyze the contribution of each micrometric portion of the sample to the spatially heterogeneous behavior that was found. Significant differences of the MCE on heating and cooling are present associated to inhomogeneity dynamics, mostly near the structural transformation. The amplitude of the MCE and its inhomogeneity are both much more pronounced on the heating process. On the cooling process the effect behaves quite homogeneously since the structural transformation already occurred during the cooling to reach T sample. The behavior of the MCE at selected map coordinates was scrutinized, revealing significant differences amongst sample locations. Moreover, the extreme amplitudes of MCE registered for diverse micro-regions occur at different temperatures, suggesting that the structural transformation occurs at varying temperatures and with different magnitudes. The study innovates by constructing MCE maps to evaluate minority behaviors in the MCE in contrast with the average behavior of the effect. This study displays the capability to discriminate the behavior of the transformation at the microscale.