Extimes;perimental investigation on dependency of Terfenol-D transducers performance on working conditions

Performance and efficiency of magnetostrictive transducer are highly dependent on working conditions. Magnetic bias field and pre-stress of the magnetostrictive rod are two of the main factors affecting the transducer behavior. Unexpected changes may cause unpredictable behavior of the transducer and a dramatic loss of performances. This paper experimentally investigates the effect of different working conditions on quality factor, bandwidth, resonance of a Terfenol-D resonance transducer that works in its first mode of vibration. For this purpose, an experimental setup consisting of laser Doppler, power amplifier and current transducer has been used. A Terfenol-D resonance transducer that is capable of changing magnetic bias field and mechanical pre-stress has been designed and fabricated. Working frequency of the transducer is between 5000 Hz to 7000 Hz. Output parameters of the transducer are experimentally calculated using an equivalent electrical circuit model. Results of the study improves the knowledge in the field and gives suggestions to the design of resonance transducers.