Open Access

ARTICLE

A Coupled Magnetic-Elastic-Thermal Free-Energy Model with Hysteretic Nonlinearity for Terfenol-D Rods

Tian-Zhong Wang¹, You-He Zhou^1,2

1 Key Laboratory of Mechanics on Disaster and Environment in Western China, Ministry of Education of China, and Department of Mechanics, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, People’sRepublic of China.
2 Corresponding author: Tel:86-0931-8910340; Fax: 86-0931-8625576; E-mail: zhouyh@lzu.edu.cn

Computers, Materials & Continua 2011, 21(1), 41-64. https://doi.org/10.3970/cmc.2011.021.041

Abstract

Based on the thermodynamic theory and the postulates of Jiles and Atherton, a general coupled magnetic-elastic-thermal free-energy model with hysteretic nonlinearity is established for Terfenol-D rods, in which the effect of Weiss molecular field is incorporated. The quantitative agreement between numerical simulation results predicted by the free-energy model and existing experimental data confirms the validity and reliability of the obtained nonlinear theoretical model, and indicates that the free-energy model can accurately capture the nonlinear hysteresis characteristic of Terfenol-D. Meanwhile, the free-energy model is employed to investigate the influences of mechanical stress and the temperature on the magnetostrictive effect of Terfenol-D in detail, and its predictions are coincident with some well-known experimental results including the temperature-dependent saturation nonlinearity and "overturn phenomenon". It indicates that the free-energy model can also effectively capture the nonlinear magnetic-elastic-thermal coupling characteristic of Terfenol-D. Some important physical parameters, such as the maximum magnetostrictive strain, the maximum piezomagnetic coefficient, are summarized, which can be used to optimize the performance of Terfenol-D in practical application. In addition, the free-energy model uses simple differential equation and algebraic equations, in which all of parameters have definite physical implications and can be easily determined by experiments. Thus, the free-energy model established in this article has very strong and wide practicability.

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Keywords

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