Ferromagnetic Shape Memory Thin Film In-Plane Actuators: Assessment of Mechanical Output

Ferromagnetic shape memory alloy micro actuators and motors are promising for applications in various servo control systems, with the potential to provide ultra(sub-nano)-precision positioning and compensation. This article shows that in an in-plane configuration, thin film ferromagnetic shape memory actuators open the possibility to reach more powerful actuators keeping the same geometric dimensions by simply stacking these films. The assessment of mechanical output for the FSMA thin film actuators have been done with a multiscale model, which allowed for concurrent simulation of the phenomena at atomic and mesoscale.