Decision science-driven selection of magnetocaloric materials for self-sustaining and self-regulating thermal management systems

Among the several advantages, the two most essential benefits of All-Electric-Aircraft (AEA) are reduced carbon emissions and maintenance. A critical challenge in AEAs is thermal management; particularly, batteries are difficult to cool because of the low and narrow optimal temperature range of high performance. A need for self-sustaining systems with self-regulating thermal management capabilities is imminent. A comparison of the most relevant cooling technologies reveals the highest Coefficient of Performance and Energy Conversion Efficiency in Magnetic Cooling (MC). MC utilizes magnetocaloric materials (MCMs) that heat up when exposed to a magnetic field and cool down when the field is removed―the cyclic exposure to and shielding from a magnetic field creates a heat pump. The MCMs are a diverse class of materials, including but not limited to rare-earth-containing crystalline materials (e.g., laves phases, etc.), rear-earth-free crystalline materials (viz., Heusler alloys, etc.), rare-earth-based amorphous materials, and transition metal based amorphous materials, synthesized/fabricated by a myriad of techniques. Materials Informatics-enabled materials discovery and selection, popularly termed Materials 4.0, is enabled on the existing big data of synthesis, processing, modeling, characterization, and properties of diverse MCMs to identify novel MCMs for AEAs. A novel methodology that combines multiple-attribute decision-making (MADM) methods, principal component analysis (PCA), and hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA). Weights of the properties (or attributes) were evaluated by objective (Shannon's entropy method) and subjective methods. The rank assigned by several MADMs, viz., Technique of order preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS), Combined compromise solution (CoCoSo), Operational competitive ratio (OCRA), and so forth were consistent. PCA and HCA consolidated the MADM ranks and grouped similar alloys. The investigation highlights similarities across several MCMs, suggests potential replacement or substitute for existing MCMs, and provides directions for improvement and/or development of sustainable MCMS for self-sustaining systems with self-regulating thermal management capabilities.