An amplitude prediction model for a giant magnetostrictive ultrasonic transducer

Rotary ultrasonic machining (RUM) is widely used in the processing of brittle and hard materials. The application of giant magnetostrictive ultrasonic transducers (GMUT) with effective vibration performance is an increasingly popular field of research within RUM. A generalized amplitude prediction model for GMUT is obtained in this paper by first providing an equivalent kinetics model of the GMUT. Considering the influence on interaction force between Terfenol-D and the external mechanical mechanism, the prestress mechanism of Terfenol-D and the joint face of the horn are determined as equivalent to two spring-damping systems in series, and a general GMUT vibration equation is established. The equivalent stiffness of the prestress mechanism is then identified, and the mechanical quality factor of the vibration system is calculated by impedance analysis. The influence of the joint face of the horn and the prestress mechanism on the amplitude is then studied by nonlinear least square fitting. Based on a magnetostriction and magnetization model, an odd power amplitude prediction model with mechanical quality factor, excitation current amplitude, and excitation frequency is proposed. The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed model can effectively predict the output amplitude of the GMUT with different mechanical quality factors for different excitation signals, providing a method for system design and optimization of the GMUT.