Dynamic behaviour of Terfenol-D

Although giant magnetostrictive materials (GMM) are thought to have many potential applications owing their ability to produce large force in a short response time, little is known about the dynamic properties and behavior of GMM during Very short time periods. Force produced by a suddenly applied magnetic field is not transmitted at once to all parts of the GMM body. Deformations produced by the force are propagated through the body in the form of elastic waves. In this paper, the author examines such microsecond behavior in a Terfenol-D body. A method of passing a large current of microsecond duration through a coil is also discussed. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science S.A.