Performance of Magnetostrictive Transducers Made of Aluminum-Iron Alloy or Nickel-Copper Ferrite

Abstract

Magnetostrictive transducers made of aluminum-iron alloy have almost the same properties as those made of nickel when prepared according to certain specifications. Since more than ten years, transducers of this kind have been successfully used in place of nickel transducers. Some of their performance characteristics will be discussed. We have recently developed magnetostrictive ferrite transducers. An investigation of various kinds of ferrite materials has shown that Ni-Cu ferrite is the most suitable material for transducers over a wide range of frequencies. A few industrial models suitable for mass production have been made and we believe that Ni-Cu ferrites shall prove to be superior to ordinary metallic magnetostrictive transducers, especially in efficiency of transduction and in their lower cost of production. We are now engaged in an investigation of their characteristics under intense excitation in order to determine the limits of the fatigue at high sonic power output.