Supervisors
Senior researcher Kurt Engelbrecht (kuen@dtu.dk) tel.: 46775649,
Senior researcher Christian Bahl (chrb@dtu.dk)
Illustration of the elastocaloric cooling cycle (right) IR image of an elastocaloric plate being released from strain. The stipes indicate areas of low temperature due to the elastocaloric effect.
Elastocaloric materials exhibit a temperature increase when strained. By combining the temperature changes associated with straining and releasing the material with a fluid flow, a cooling cycle can be built using these materials. Our group is actively studying elastocaloric materials and it is important to know both their mechanical properties and limits of fatigue life. Characterization will include static mechanical tests (possibly combined with IR imagery) and mechanical cycling.
The project will investigate various elastocaloric materials in several shapes, such as plates and wires. The effects of surface treatment, such as polishing, on fatigue life will be studied. Using an IR camera to measure temperature profiles in the material during straining, the mechanism of the elastocaloric effect will be studied for use of the material in a cooling cycle.