Magnetostrictive Composites and Process for Manufacture by Dynamic compaction

Magnetostrictive alloys change in dimension in response to an applied magnetic field, and have been used in sonar transducers, actuators, vibration control and sensors. Of particular interest are alloys of iron and rare earth elements that have large magnetostriction constants. These include alloys of iron, usually with terbium and dysprosium. The alloys that have to date shown the best magnetostrictive properties are known as `Terfenol-D�. In order to increase the toughness of shapes of Terfenol-D and like magnetostrictive materials, it has been proposed to form a composite of the material in a binding matrix with another material.

Benefits
Composites have been made of materials such as Terfenol-D in a matrix of polymeric resin binder material. A problem with the polymer matrix composites is that the stiffness is significantly lower which limits their frequency response. This invention involves metallic binder composites of magnetostrictive powder that is essentially free of property compromising phases in the microstructure. The composites may be formed by coating a magnetostrictive powder with a matrix forming metal by a sputtering process and dynamically compacting the coated powder.

Stage of Development
A patent (US 6,071,357) has been issued from the US Patent and Trademark Office.
This technology is seeking partners for development-manufacturing-sales-etc of the working-final-etc product. It is available for developmental research support/licensing under either exclusive or non-exclusive terms.

Additional Info
*S. Guruswamy, M. Loveless, N. Srisukhumbowornchai, M.K. McCarter, and J. Teter . Processing of Terfenol-D Alloy based magnetostrictive composites produced by dynamic compaction, IEEE Transactions, 2000, 36, 3219-3222
*http://www.mines.utah.edu/metallurgy/MMLWEB/Index.html

Inventor(s): Michael Loveless, Sivaraman Guruswamy, Michael McCarter

Type of Offer: Licensing



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