Development of a magnetostrictive microactuator

Abstract This paper presents the development of a magnetostrictive actuator. The structural and functional requirements are as follows: it must be a millimeter structure and must achieve controllable displacement with nanometer resolution. Finite element analysis is used to determine the structure with the most uniform and highest magnetic flux density along the Terfenol-D rod. The microactuator is designed and made based on the analysis. It is observed that the microactuator show some level of hysteresis and that it produces 25 N in force and 3 μm in displacement with 1.5 A of current, and resolution of 250 nm per 0.1 A.