Experimental research of giant magnetostrictive vibration sensor

When applying mechanical stress to giant magnetostrictive material Terfenol-D, the magnetization along the direction of the applied stress varies due to the reverse magnetostrictive effect, which is called Villari effect. A magnetostrictive vibration sensor, which converts mechanical energy to electric energy, can be designed based on this effect. The experiment of the sensor was provided and the results show that peak to peak value of the sensing voltage is higher when the bias magnetic field is appropriate and the prestress is less. The voltage is proportional to frequency and amplitude of the mechanical stress. Based on the electromagnetic principle and the magnetization model of ferromagnetic material, the effect of the bias magnetic field and the prestress on the sensing voltage of the sensor can be calculated, and the voltage under different mechanical vibration input can also be calculated. It is found that the calculating results are in a good agreement with the experimental ones. The experimental and calculation results can provide the groundwork of optimizing design and application of the magnetostrictive vibration sensor.