Abstract
A magnetic force control device with composite laminate of a giant magnetostrictive material (GMM) and a piezoelectric material (PZT) is proposed. This magnetic force control is based on inverse magnetostrictive effect of the GMM, whereby variation of the magnetization in the GMM changed with a applied voltage on PZT is converted to that of magnetic force by the magnetic circuits. Because of the capacitive properties of the PZT, the device requires no electric energy hence generates no heat to maintain constant force. Furthermore compared with conventional electromagnets, the device is simple and easy to assemble. In this paper, the principle of the magnetic force control is presented and the static and dynamic characteristics of the device are examined.