Magnetoelectric effect of PZT/Ni50.5Mn27.9Ga21.6/PZT laminate composite: design and measurement

In this work we designed an experimental setup based on a double coil and an electromagnet to measure the magnetoelectric effect of a PZT/Ni50.5Mn27.9Ga21.6/PZT laminate composite, made of a bulk single crystal of Ni50.5Mn27.9Ga21.6 shape memory alloy. The shape memory alloy showed a martensitic transformation at 298 K, a Curie temperature at 368 K and room temperature magnetization of 2.87 uB/f.u. Strain response was found to be between 3% and 4% for magnetic fields greater than or equal to 4 kOe. As for the magnetoelectric effect, the induced voltages were moderate, increasing linearly with the frequency. There was a slight change in the magnetoelectric response with the DC applied magnetic field. For low frequencies, the magnetoelectric voltage was on the order of 10 mV and for higher frequencies about 50 mV. The best magnetoelectric coefficient (215 mV/cmOe) was obtained under an AC field of 1 Oe and a static magnetic field of 7 kOe.