Comparing theory with experimental data in studying the deformation of magnetically smart films deposited on nickel and glass substrates

This paper will present the procedure of measuring the deformation of the magnetostrictive bimorph specimens under an applied external magnetic field, and the theoretical and numerical analysis of the deformation. The magnetically smart material (MSM) KelvinAllTM and Terfenol-D is deposited on the nickel or glass substrates. The profiles of thin-film specimens were measured under an external magnetic field with White Light Interferometry. Using the theoretical calculation, the magnetostrictive property was evaluated for the coated Ni sample and glass sample. Employing the numerical approach, the influence of the magnetostrictive film on the deformation of the sample was simulated and compared with experimental results. The coated Ni specimen exhibited larger deformation than the coated glass specimen when the specimen is immersed in a 0.16 T magnetic field. In our experiments, the residual stress calculated in the thin film of the bimorph is acceptable and could be decreased by changing the parameters in the specimen preparation process. The experimental results in this paper was employed as the preliminary step to realize the future application of the magnetostrictive thin film bimorph to the adaptive X-ray mirror, and the theoretical and numerical approach was used to predict the influence of the magnetostrictive film on the larger mirror surface deformation.