Investigation of Galfenol for stress-based magnetic force control using inverse magnetostrictive effect

We have been proposing a magnetic force control method using the inverse magnetostrictive effect of magnetostrictive materials. With a parallel magnetic circuit consisting of iron yokes and permanent magnet, the magnetic force exerting on the yoke varies with the mechanical stress applied to the magnetostrictive material. The characteristics of the magnetic force, such as stress-sensitivity and range of the variation, are mostly dependent on the material properties of the magnetostrictive material. In this paper, we investigate the potential of the Galfenol, with high piezomagnetic constant and high saturation on our proposing method. The comparison of the theoretical and experimental results of magnetic force clarifies the advantages of the Galfenol.