Amplitude Stress in Ni-Mn-Ga Polymer Composites Bonded with PZT Sensors and Actuators

Abstract

A new experimental set up to measure acoustic attenuation in ferromagnetic shape memory alloy and composites was designed and built. Acoustic attenuation in polyurethane (PU) polymer composites with Ni-Mn-Ga particulate fillers have been reported which exhibits greater vibration absorption than polymer/magnetostrictive composites due to the rearrangement of twin variants in Ni-Mn-Ga particles. Amplitude stress wave has been analysed for three different test samples. Above the low frequency, the acoustic attenuation is gradually decreased from PU to Ni-Mn-Ga/PU. The Ni-Mn-Ga/PU polymer composite is shown to be ideal for applications that require absorption of mechanical energy.

Keywords:

• Magnetic shape memory alloys
• magnetic-field induced strain
• smart polymer composites
• vibration suppression
• sensors and actuators

Acknowledgment

One of the authors (M. M) would like to thank Dr. Robert C.O’Handley for his scholarly guidance and for introducing him to the subject. Financial support from DRDO (2) is greatly acknowledged.