Manganese-substituted cobalt ferrite magnetostrictive materials for magnetic stress sensor applications

Metal bonded cobalt ferrite composites have been shown to be promising candidate materials for use in magnetoelastic stress sensors, due to their large magnetostriction and high sensitivity of magnetization to stress. However previous results have shown that below 60 degreesC the cobalt ferrite material exhibits substantial magnetomechanical hysteresis. In the current study, measurements indicate that substituting Mn for some of the Fe in the cobalt ferrite can lower the Curie temperature of the material while maintaining a suitable magnetostriction for stress sensing applications. These results demonstrate the possibility of optimizing the magnetomechanical hysteresis of cobalt ferrite-based composites for stress sensor applications, through control of the Curie temperature. (C) 2005 American Institute of Physics.