We investigate the machining properties of Iron-Gallium alloy for microactuator. Iron-Gallium is ductile magnetostrictive material with moderate magnetostriction ranging from 100 to 300ppm. The microactuator of Fe-Ga is expected to have advantages of simple configuration, low voltage driving, high robustness against external force and high temperature environment, compared with that of PZT. Here the rod of Fe-Ga prepared by FSZM technique was machined to distributed pillars of 1mm square by milling process. The comparison of magnetostrictions of machined and non-machined parts by strain gage confirms the strains different in pillars are inherited from the grain distribution and the milling process does not significantly deteriorate the material properties. The measurement of displacements by LASER Doppler vibrometer supports the validity of strain measurement. The success of the fabrication of the distributed pillars of 0.7 and 0.5mm square exhibits the potential of the milling process for Fe-Ga with high aspect ratio suitable for practical micro applications.

Date Published: 6 April 2006
PDF: 8 pages
Proc. SPIE 6170, Smart Structures and Materials 2006: Active Materials: Behavior and Mechanics, 61700O (6 April 2006); doi: 10.1117/12.659410

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 6170:
Smart Structures and Materials 2006: Active Materials: Behavior and Mechanics
William D. Armstrong, Editor(s)