An iterative approach to simulate magnetic micro systems by changing the magnetic properties

Magnetic shape memory (MSM) metals are new ferromagnetic materials attractive for actuators applications. Applying an external magnetic field, the domains in the ferromagnetic MSM material align along the magnetic field direction. This not only results in a change in length (and with five to ten percent a quite substantial one), but also in an increase of the relative magnetic permeability mu_r of the MSM material. Therefore, modeling a device including MSM material is challenging. For such a case, a quasi-static approach is no longer feasible. Therefore, an iterative procedure had to be developed to dynamically simulate the magnetic properties of MSM devices. Design, modeling, and simulation of a magnetic system including MSM material were conducted by Finite Element Method (FEM) analysis. The simulations were executed using the software tool ANSYStrade.