Simultaneously achieved good mechanical properties and large magnetocaloric effect in spark plasma sintered Ni-Mn-In alloys

Ni50Mn34.7In15.3 alloys based on differently sized particles were prepared by spark plasma sintering. Compared with the arc-melted alloy, the compressive strength and fracture strain of the Ni50Mn34.7In15.3 alloys were tremendously increased via SPS sintering. Simultaneously, their magnetocaloric effects were enhanced by increase the size of particles for SPS sintering. The compressive strength and fracture strain of the sintered alloy were better than 1050 MPa and 12.5%, respectively. A large adiabatic temperature change up to -3.2 K was achieved under a 1.5 T magnetic field. The present work offers an approach to simultaneously improve the mechanical properties and magnetocaloric effects of Ni-Mn-In alloys.