Mechanical Properties of Ni-Mn-Ga/PU and
Ni-Fe-Ga/PU composites
C. Saranya, S. Seenithurai, S. Vinodh Kumar, R. Kodi Pandyan and M. Mahendran*
Smart Materials Lab, Department of Physics, Thiagarajar College of Engineering, Madurai – 625 015, India
*Corresponding author’s e-mail: manickam-mahendran@tce.edu
Abstract
By combining the advances of efficient damping and
high mechanical properties, Ni-Mn-Ga particle composites
have a good prospect for application in acoustic energy
absorption. In the present paper, Ferromagnetic Shape
Memory Alloy (FSMA) Ni-Mn-Ga particles in
polyurethane (PU) and Ni-Fe-Ga particles in polyurethane
composites are prepared and investigated. Shape memory
effect is confirmed at room temperature by using
differential scanning calorimeter. The morphological
studies of the composites are performed and average
particle size is calculated by Scanning Electron
Microscopy analysis.
Magnetization measurement
indicates that the powder has the soft magnetic properties.
The acoustic energy absorption of Ni-Mn-Ga/PU, Ni-FeGa/PU composites are studied though the axial loading
and unloading methods. The results indicate that
composites of Ni–Mn–Ga, Ni-Fe-Ga magnetic shape
memory alloys in appropriately chosen matrices might be
useful as mechanical energy absorptive materials.
prepared by mixing the polyurethane matrix and powder
form of the Ni-Mn-Ga. The experimental set up is
developed to measure the mechanical properties and
acoustic energy absorption.
Results and Discussions
The basic physical, thermal and magnetic
properties of Ni-Mn-Ga, Ni-Fe-Ga, Ni-Mn-Ga/PU, NiFe-Ga/PU are studied by using XRD, DSC, SEM, VSM
analysis. The acoustic amplitude is observed at the
piezo sensor as a function of actuation frequency for the
Ni-Mn-Ga/PU, Ni-Fe-Ga/PU composites (Fig. 1). The
transmitted acoustic amplitude above about 700 Hz is
the lowest in the Ni–Mn–Ga composite and it decreases
with increase in frequency, consistent with the theory.
1.2
Introduction
Damping technology has developed into one of
the effective approaches to reduce noise and vibration
on flight vehicles in recent decades. Damping materials
and their manufacturing technology are widely used for
vibration control and noise control in rockets, missiles,
satellites, airplanes, navigation equipment and
electronic systems. Shape memory alloys and
ferromagnetic shape memory alloys (FSMA) Ni-Mn-Ga
are promising damping materials for their large
recoverable strain, high response and damping
properties. For instance, they are employed on the
actuator design for synthetic jet applications. But NiMn-Ga alloys are inherently brittle and hard to prepare,
because of which their applications are confined. Thus,
researchers have proposed a new FSMA – composite to
improve the properties of Ni-Mn-Ga, a new kind of
particulate composite formed by the combination of NiMn-Ga/PU composite and Ni-Fe-Ga/PU composite.
Experimental Procedure
The Ni-Mn-Ga and Ni-Fe-Ga powders are
prepared by arc melting technique. The composite is
1.0
0.8
Amplitude (V)
Keywords: Ferro magnetic shape memory alloy,
Polyurethane, Polymer composite, Mechanical energy
absorption.
0.6
0.4
Ni-Mn-Ga/PU
Ni-Fe-Ga/PU
0.2
0.0
0
200
400
600
800
1000
Frequency (Hz)
Fig. 1 Acoustic energy absorption in Ni-Mn-Ga/PU and
Ni-Fe-Ga/PU composites
Conclusion
The acoustic attenuation has been measured
from 100 Hz to 1 kHz in Ni–Mn–Ga/PU, Ni-Fe-Ga/PU
composites using a piezo stack actuator and PZT sensor.
It is concluded that these FSMA polymer composites
can be used for mechanical energy absorption
applications.
Acknowledgement
The author (C.S) would like to thank the DST
for their financial support to carry out this work.
References
[1] Manickam Mahendran, et al., Journal of Magnetism
and Magnetic Materials, 323 (2011) 1098-1100.
[2] Jorge Feuchtwanger, et al., Journal of Applied
physics, 93 (2003) 8528-8530.