Integrated Microactuator Systems Emphasizing Ni-Mn-Ga Films with a Tailored Microstructure INTACT - Design and System Integration of Microactuators with Discrete and Thin-Film MSM Elements

• Applicant: Professor Dr.-Ing. Hans-Heinrich Gatzen
• Subject Area: Mechanical Properties of Metallic Materials and their Microstructural Origins
• Term: from 2006 to 2011
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 28340651

• Final Report Year: 2009

Final Report Abstract

This sub-project was part of a package proposal which pursued the development of an Integrated Actuator taking advantage of magnetic shape memory (MSM) material. As actuation elements, discrete stripes of NiMnGa were chosen. The emphasis was on creating a thin-film stator which achieves a magnetic field Hcrit strong enough to induce a change in length in the MSM material and integrating both, stator and MSM stripes. During the first funding period, the research focus was on developing the basic thin-film technologies for the microstator fabrication. Furthermore, an MSM microactuator system was fabricated and evaluated. During the second funding period, the system was optimized. As a result, the area of the MSM material exposed to a magnetic field Hcrit was enlarged from 60 percent to 67 percent. An improved concept for the system integration was developed as well, allowing to minimizing the air gaps between the microstators and the MSM material. Furthermore, a conceptual design for a microactuator using MSM thin-films was created and verified by Finite Element Method (FEM) analyses.

Publications

• Application of MSM Bulk Material in a Hybrid Microactuator, EUROMAT 2007, Nürnberg, Germany, Physica Status Solidi (a) 205, No. 10, pp. 2307-2312, Wiley-VCH Verlag, 2008
  B. Spasova, C. Ruffert, M.C. Wurz, H.H. Gatzen
  
• Fabrication and Characterization of Microactuators with Discrete MSM Bulk Material, Prog. ACTUATOR 2008, 11th Conference on new Actuators, Bremen, Germany, pp. 713-716, 2008
  B. Spasova, M.C. Wurz, H.H. Gatzen
  
• Manufacturing Technology for the Fabrication a Discrete Actuator Using a Magnetic Shape Memory Alloy, E-MRS- Symposium 2007, Warsaw, Poland, European Physics Journal, Springer Verlag Berlin Heidelberg New York, Special Topics 158, pp. 243-247, 2008
  B. Spasova, M.C. Wurz, H.H. Gatzen
  
• Challenges in Assembling a Magnetic Shape Memory (MSM) Microactuator, Proc. ASPE 24th Ann. Meet. 2009, Monterey, CA, USA, pp. 431-434, 2009
  S. Cvetkovic, B. Spasova, H.H. Gatzen
  
• Simulation of an Improved Microactuator with Discrete MSM Elements, Material Science Forum, Vol. 632, pp. 181-186, Trans Tech Publications, Switzerland, 2010
  B. Spasova, H.H. Gatzen