Credits: etogruppe.com

Among other things, his research group is working on optimizing the alloy Ni₂MnGa in order to increase the reversible strain, realized by transformation within the martensite phase, from about 6% to up to 20%. In addition to the theory, the participants also received an overview of the entire manufacturing process, from single crystal production to cutting of the so-called "sticks" (the MSM elements used in the actuator), as well as insights into the analytical methods used, such as EBSD. In the last part of the presentation, several possible application examples of such sticks, such as the short-circuit and overload protection switch, were presented. By using the thermal-magnetic switching unit, realized by an MSM element, this smartly gets by with fewer components compared to commercially available models. Even though magnetic shape memory alloys have so far been found almost exclusively in the laboratory, we can look forward to seeing the practical solutions.

The Young-DGM would like to thank all guests for their participation as well as the lecturer for the comprehensive overview!