Image analysis of the microstructure of pseudo-1-3 magnetostrictive composites

Previous studies did by some scholars proved applying a magnetic field during the manufacture process of polymer-bonded Terfenol-D could orient the magnetic easy direction of the particles along the field direction and form a pseudo-1-3 structure. Compared to the 0-3 composites composed of Terfenol-D particles dispersed randomly in a polymer matrix, pseudo-1-3 magnetostrictive composites present much larger magnetostrictive performance. In this paper, magnetostrictive composites based on Terfenol-D particles in an unsaturated polyester resin matrix were fabricated under different magnetic fields. Magentostriction was tested and compared to get the detail effects of orientation fields on magnetostrictive properties of magnetostrictive composites. Scanning electron microscopy was used to observe their microstructures. Image analysis was applied to describe the microstructures. The distribution of the angles between the major axis of the particles and the magnetic field direction was used to evaluate the arrangement of particles in the matrix quantitatively. The results confirm particle chain-like structures in composites prepared under larger magnetic field, and show that particle arrangement changes with the strength of the orientation field, which is result in the changes of magnetostrictive performance.