Performance studies of a magnetostrictive actuator with varying mechanical and magnetic bias levels by dynamic simulations

Abstract
The performance of a magnetostrictive actuator with varying mechanical and magnetic bias levels has been studied by dynamic simulations. The actuator efficiency was deduced from the simulations for a medium high level of excitation and for resonant and subresonant conditions. The actuator efficiency showed pronounced maxima at a certain magnetic bias level when the mechanical prestress was varied. The correlation between the mechanical prestress and magnetic bias level at maximum actuator efficiency showed a linear relationship for both resonant and subresonant conditions. This implies that a region in the strain-field plane can be found where the actuator shows optimal performance.