Preparation of magnetostrictive composites using ultrasonic and their properties

Polymer-bonded Terfenol-D composites are maily composed of Terfenol-D particles and polymer matrix, uniformity of Terfenol-D particles and boundary condition of interface between the particles and matrix are two important factors which influence their performance. Due to bad infiltration between particle and matrix, the polymer-bonded Terfenol-D composites made by mechanical dispersion method are universally possessing defects of non-homogeneous particles distribution and worse interface between particles and matrix. Using ultrasonic instead of mechanical dispersion is a potential way to solve those problems because of the cooperative effects of acoustic cavitation and high speed acoustic stream in liquid resins. In this paper, two epoxy-bonded Terfenol-D composites with 50% particle volume fraction were fabricated by mechanical dispersion and ultrasonic dispersion methods, respectively. The results obtained by microstructure analysis revealed that the composites prepared by ultrasonic have compact structure and homogeneous distribution of particles. Furthermore, the examination of mechanical properties and magentostrictive properties indicated that using ultrasonic dispersion method can improve both the elastieity module and magnetostriction of magnetostrictive composites.