Magnetostrictive properties of polymer-bonded Terfenol-D composites

Abstract

Polymer-bonded Terfenol-D composites are fabricated using powders with varying sizes and also under various production conditions, in an effort to produce Terfenol-D bulks with good magnetostrictive properties through the optimization of the many fabrication parameters. A large magnetostriction of 536 ppm at 1.1 kOe, combined with a high d(33)(max) (the maximum slope in the magnetostriction-applied magnetic field curve) of 1.3 ppm/Oe (16.3 nm/A) is obtained for the composite fabricated at the following conditions; the average particle size of 137.5 mu m, a phenol content of 3.1 wt%, and a compaction pressure of 0.5 GPa. The magnetostrictive properties achieved. in this work are much better than the previously reported results for similar Terfenol-D composites. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.