1. Improved Methods for 3D Printing Magnetostrictive Composites
William Neave and Chase ranicke
Dr. chiu law (faculty advisor)
CEAS-Electrical Engineering

2. Introduction
The goal was to improve 3D printing filament quality and magnetostrictive response from previous methods.
A magnetostrictive alloy Terfenol-D was incorporated into the acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) thermoplastic matrix to enhance mechanical properties of the resulting filament.
By fabricating a mixture of ABS and Terfenol-D particles, the resulting filament responds to magnetic flux by straining.

3. Methods
µm sized particles of Terfenol-D were mixed with particles of ABS plastic by volume fraction of 15% Terfenol-D and 85% ABS.
Resulting mixture of particles was fabricated for 3D printer utilization by feeding mixture through a filament extruder (Figure 3).
Constant tension was applied to end of filament to achieve a consistent diameter of resulting filament.
Extrusion temperature of 185°C was used.
Test blocks (Figure 5) were created with a 3D printer, then a strain gauge was added. Three blocks were printed each with a different layer orientation with respect to the applied magnetic field:
0°: along applied magnetic field
90°: orthogonal to applied magnetic field
Each layer orthogonal to the previous
The blocks underwent an electromagnetic test (Figure 6) to record the strain response to the magnetic flux applied.
Figure 1: ABS Powder and Terfenol-D Mixture
Figure 2: Filament Extruder

4. Figure 3 (Left): Filament Leaving Extruder
Figure 4 (Right): 3D Printer Printing Testing Sample

5. Figure 5 (Left): Test Block with Strain Gauge
Figure 6 (Right): Electromagnet

6. Results
Figure 7: Sample Response for Orthogonally Printed Layers

7. Figure 8: Sample Response for Layers Printed at 0°

8. Figure 9: Sample Response for Layers Printed at 90°

9. Layers that were printed orthogonally showed largest response to the magnetic flux.
Layers printed at 90° showed lowest response to magnetic flux
Smaller Terfenol-D particles exhibited a lower response to magnetic flux
Mixing Terfenol-D particles with ABS powder was a faster method for creating filament and printed a higher quality sample
Figure 10: Results Obtained by Yermakov Running Same Test

10. Conclusions
The current 3D printing filament composite method yielded similar results when the layers were orthogonally printed.
When printed at 0°or 90° there is hysteresis that needs to be further investigated.
Mechanical properties of improved method will be tested in future for comparison.

11. Literature Cited
Engdahl, G. (2000). Handbook of Giant Magnetostrictive Materials. San Diego, CA: Academic Press
Yermakov, Aleksey. “Magnetostrictive Smart Composite for Fused Deposition 3D Printing.” 28 July 2016.

12. Acknowledgments UW-Milwaukee Undergraduate Research Office
Dr. Chiu Law
Daniel Brandt
Aleksey Yermakov
Andrew Thompson

13. For Further Information
Please access the Giant Handbook for Magnetostrictive Material.
Additional data will be provided during the presentation.

14. Questions?