Progress in Magnetoelastic Vibration Dampers

A report describes uniaxial-stress-versus-strain experiments that were performed on polycrystalline Tb76Dy24 alloy specimens. [Also see "Magnetoelastic Vibration Dampers" (NPO-20988) on page 56 of this issue.] The proposal is to use Tb-Dy alloys as vibration-damping materials at temperatures -100 K, exploiting the fact that in Tb-Dy alloys and other magnetostrictive materials, vibrations cause the movement of magnetic domains and the consequent dissipation of vibrational energy as heat.