Design and construction of a resonant magnetostrictive motor

A resonant magnetostrictive motor was built and tested. Its stator modules are made of a ring and two Terfenol-D linear actuators. Two resonant modes of the modules (a translation mode and a flexure mode) are coupled in order to produce elliptical vibrations which are used to transmit motion to two rotors by friction. A low rotating speed of 100/spl deg//s, and a torque of about 2 Nm were reached. Our goal was to show that Terfenol-D can be used for making high torque motors and that resonance can be beneficial for that purpose and for improving efficiency.