Direct formation of NaZn13-structure La(Fe,Si)13 phase by directional solidification

We have demonstrated that the La(Fe,Si)13 magnetocaloric phase can be directly formed from molten on extremely slow cooling by the employment of directional solidification technique. A large amount of this magnetocaloric phase of about 85% was achieved in the as-solidified state with a cooling rate of 0.005 K/s. A large magnetic entropy change of 13.5 J/kg K under an applied field of 2 T was obtained at 202 K for the LaFe11.6Si1.4 composition without post-annealing processing.