Simultaneously realizing good volumetric entropy change and mechanical strength of La0.8Ce0.2Fe11.51Mn0.19Si1.3H plates

It is hard to get a high-strength La(Fe, Si)13-based hydrides owing to the brittle feature of hydrides. In this work, we fabricated the La0.8Ce0.2Fe11.51Mn0.19Si1.3 plates through hot pressing at 1323 K for various time. Subsequently, the saturated hydrogenization is achieved at 593 K in H2 atmosphere of 0.13 MPa for 210 min. The microstructure and magnetocaloric properties were investigated by an X-ray diffractometer, a scanning electron microscope and the Versa-Lab. Under magnetic fields of 0–2 T, the maximal volumetric entropy change is 91.4 mJ/(cm3·K) at 297 K for the hydride plates. The hydride plate simultaneously has excellent mechanical properties with the maximum bending strength of 213 MPa, which suggest that the hot pressing followed by hydrogenation could be an effective route of fabricating La(Fe, Si)13-based hydrides for the potential application in the magnetic refrigerator.