Magnetic shape memory microactuator

Bimetallic composite nanotweezers based on Ti2NiCu alloy with shape memory effect (SME) have been recently proved to allow the manipulation of real nano‐objects, such as nanotubes, and bionanoparticles while heated up to 40‐60 °C by laser radiation. The possibility of developing nanotweezers operating at a constant temperature is of particular importance mainly for the manipulation of biological objects. In this work, a microactuator was produced using a composite bilayer made of a layer of rapidly quenched Ni53Mn24Ga23 ferromagnetic shape memory Heusler alloy and an elastic layer of Pt. The size of the microactuator is 25×2.3×1.7 µm3. The controlled bending deformation of the actuator is 1.2%, with a deflection of the end of the actuator higher than 2 µm has been obtained by applying a magnetic field of 8 T at T = 62 °C The possibility of the development of new technologies for magnetic‐field‐controlled nanotools operating at a constant temperature using the new multifunction magnetic shape memory alloys will be discussed. (© 2014 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)