Investigations of Shape Deformation Behaviors of the Ferromagnetic Ni–Mn–Ga Alloy/Porous Silicone Rubber Composite towards Actuator Applications

Ferromagnetic shape memory alloys (FSMAs), which are potential candidates for future technologies (i.e., actuators in robots), have been paid much attention their high work per volume and rapid response as external stimulation, such a magnetic field, is imposed. Among all the FSMAs, Ni–Mn–Ga-based were considered promising materials due to appropriate phase transformation temperatures ferromagnetism. Nevertheless, intrinsic embrittlement issue sluggish twin motion inhibition of grain boundaries restrict practicability. This study took advantage single-crystal Ni–Mn–Ga cube/silicone rubber composite solve two aforementioned difficulties. The cube was prepared by using high-temperature alloying procedure floating-zone (FZ) method, cubes verified be near-{100}p alloy. Various room temperature (RT) curing silicone rubbers utilized matrix materials. Furthermore, polystyrene foam particles (PFP) used provide pores, allowing porous matrix. It found that elastic modulus successfully reduced introducing PFP. Additionally, field-induced martensite variant reorientation (MVR) greatly enhanced structure into rubber. cube/porous applications actuators.