New wood stove material

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Dune

Minister of Fire
Hearth Supporter
A new alloy with unique properties can convert heat directly into electricity, according to researchers at the University of Minnesota. The alloy, a multiferroic composite of nickel, cobalt, manganese and tin, can be either non-magnetic and highly magnetic, depending on its temperature.


Multiferroic materials possess both magnetism and ferroelectricity, or a permanent electric polarization. Materials with both of these properties are very rare; check out this explainer from the National Institute of Standards and Technology if you're interested in the electron orbital arrangements that cause these phenomena.

In this case, the new alloy — Ni45Co5Mn40Sn10 — undergoes a reversible phase transformation, in which one type of solid turns into another type of solid when the temperature changes, according to a news release from the University of Minnesota. Specifically, the alloy goes from being non-magnetic to highly magnetized. The temperature only needs to be raised a small amount for this to happen.

http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2011-06/new-alloy-can-convert-heat-directly-electricity
 
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Oh boy, I can see the Blaze King fanbois now...

I can power a light bulb for 3 days on a single load!
 
I can see the lawyers of the future figuring out how to phrase the caveat - Keep the house robot away from the stove!
 
Seeing that only a slight temperature change is needed this material may be good for heating ducts.
 
Metal roofing?
 
I can see the lawyers of the future figuring out how to phrase the caveat - Keep the house robot away from the stove!

I don't like these robots :/ I like technology moving forward but there is just something about these robots that really really gives me the eebie jeebies.
 
sorry Sir Dune, didn't mean to hijack the thread.
 
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