Nanoscale Manufacturing - Nanocomposites for Magnetostrictive Actuators

James D. Ma, Daniel T. O’Brien, Michael F. Becker, John W. Keto, and Desiderio Kovar
Texas Materials Institute and Center for Nano- & Molecular Science and Technology
The University of Texas at Austin, Austin TX 78712

ABSTRACT:
We show how nanomaterials can be used to fabricate magnetostrictive actuator films.
The laser ablation of microparticles (LAM) process for nanoparticle production is
combined with supersonic jet deposition of the nanoparticle aerosol to manufacture thick
films from 10 to 100 µm thick. Films of the magnetostrictive material Terfenol-D have
been fabricated using this method and characterized for their magnetization properties.
The results showed that the films were not oxidized and had a saturation magnetization
comparable to films fabricated by other methods such as sputtering.