New Separation Processes for Fabrication of Magnetic Shape Memory Actuator Elements

In principal, there is a high requirement to investigate alternative, cost-effective and more time-efficient separation processes for a large number of actuator elements. In the present paper new results for the fabrication of Ni-Mn-Ga single crystalline actuator elements using diamond wire cutting, pulsed electrochemical machining and dicing are shown and compared with standard process (wire electro-discharge machining). The results have shown that in the medium term wire eroding can be replaced by a combination of diamond wire cutting (cutting single crystal to discs) and dicing (cutting disc to sticks). In the longer term, pulsed electrochemical machining with wire electrodes also offers the potential for economical and high-quality separation processes.