Design of ferromagnetic shape memory alloy composite made of Fe and TiNi particles

Ferromagnetic shape memory alloy (FSMA) particulate composites have been processed by spark plasma sintering with varying weight fractions of NiTi (51 at. % Ni) and Fe powders. An assortment of experimental processing conditions such as temperature, pressure, duration of sintering, and heating rate has been chosen to characterize the relative density and superelasticity behavior of the said FSMA composite. The effective magnetic properties of these processed composites have also been experimentally estimated using vibrating sample magnetometry. An attempt at predicting the effective magnetic properties of the FSMA composite based on Eshelby's inhomogeneous inclusion method in conjunction with Mori-Tanaka's mean-field theory for larger concentrations of the ferromagnetic phase has also been presented in this study. The analytical model results thus obtained are compared with experimental data resulting in reasonably good agreement.