New Paper - High temperature indentation

La-Fe-Co-Si alloys are promising magnetocaloric materials for future cooling applications. Researchers at the Korea Institute of Materials Science have been using the precision indent placement and excellent thermal stability of their NanoTest Xtreme to simulate the deformation mechanisms of individual phases in a La-Fe-Co-Si alloys during hot rolling. They performed nanoindentation tests between RT and 800 °C finding more pronounced softening of primary a-Fe phase and more gradual softening of the intermetallic 1:1:1 phase until 600 °C (>half of its melting point of 1113 °C) when there was a significant drop in hardness .