BASIC PROPERTIES OF MAGNETIC SHAPE MEMORY ACTUATORS

Magnetically controlled shape memory materials are a new w ay to p roduce motion and force. The material changes s hape in a magnetic field. Shape c hanges are e ven l0 p ercent and response time is less than a millisecond. Usual applications of the material are ac tuators that produce linear motion. In this article several magnetic shape memory actuators are presented and their properties and advantages are discussed.