Ames National Laboratory, US Department of Energy , Ames, IA 50011, United States of America; Department of Material Science & Engineering, Iowa State University , Ames, IA 50011, United States of America
Cu-Al-Mn alloys display martensitic transformation over a wide range of temperatures. In addition to low cost, this alloy is known for its low transformation stress with reasonable latent heat favoring elastocaloric applications. However, the ductility of Cu-Al-Mn can be limited owing to ordering and intergranular fracture. Through rapid solidification by melt spinning, we show that Cu-Al-Mn ribbon can be made highly ductile (greater than 8% tensile strain in the as-spun state and 10% tensile strain after heat treatment). The ductility of the melt-spun ribbon is related to the suppression of L2 _1 ordering that is characterized through magnetic property measurement. Heat treatment of the ribbon promotes bamboo grain formation, and the latent heat is increased to 6.4 J g ^−1 . Under tensile conditions, we show that the ribbon exhibited about 4 °C temperature change (4.4 °C on heating and 4.2 °C on cooling from 6.3% strain).
