Chill out: freezing temperatures produced by letting a stressed alloy relax
Article Date: 28 January 2026
Article URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-026-00030-z
Article Image: thumbnail
Summary
Researchers have built a device that uses the solid-state elastocaloric effect to cool below 0 °C by allowing a stressed alloy to relax. By choosing alloys with low transition temperatures and optimising the device design, the team achieved sub-zero cooling — a feat beyond earlier room-temperature elastocaloric systems. The advance suggests elastocaloric cooling could become an alternative to conventional refrigeration that relies on volatile greenhouse gases, although questions about durability, scaling and real-world efficiency remain.
Key Points
- The device exploits the elastocaloric effect: a phase-change in a stressed shape-memory alloy that absorbs heat when the material relaxes.
- New low-transition-temperature alloys and system design enabled cooling to temperatures below 0 °C, extending elastocaloric performance beyond room-temperature demonstrations.
- This is a proof-of-concept showing potential for refrigeration/freezing without conventional HFC refrigerants, which are potent greenhouse gases.
- Advantages include solid-state operation and the possibility of reduced direct greenhouse-gas emissions from refrigerants.
- Remaining challenges include material fatigue, cycle life, system-level efficiency versus compressors, and cost for scale-up.
- Further work is needed to integrate continuous cycling, heat exchangers and long-term durability for commercial applications.
Why should I read this?
Short and sharp: if you care about greener cooling or materials-driven tech, this is a neat one. The team actually hit sub-zero using a solid alloy trick — not vapour compression — so it points to a future path for fridges and freezers that doesn’t rely on potent greenhouse gases. It’s not a finished product, but it’s a proper step forward worth a quick look.
Context and relevance
Refrigeration accounts for significant greenhouse-gas emissions both from energy use and from leaking HFC refrigerants. Solid-state cooling approaches — including elastocaloric, magnetocaloric and electrocaloric systems — are being explored to cut reliance on such gases. Demonstrating sub-zero elastocaloric cooling narrows the gap between lab demos and practical refrigeration needs (freezers, transport cold chains). The paper is relevant to researchers and industry tracking decarbonisation of cooling, materials scientists working on fatigue-resistant alloys, and policymakers watching alternatives to high-global-warming refrigerants.