Limit Operation Regimes of Actuators Working on the Principle of Thermoelasticity

Actuators working on the principle of thermoelasticity exhibit specific properties (particularly very high forces at small shifts) and may be used, for example, as prospective fixing elements in numerous industrial applications. However, huge mechanical strains and stresses in their active structural parts may lead to irreversible damage or even destruction of the whole device. This paper deals with the limit operation regimes of a typical actuator of this kind that are influenced by geometry of the device, materials, and parameters of the field current. The task is solved as a coupled problem where the electromagnetic field is supposed to be independent of the fields of the temperature and mechanical strains and stresses. On the other hand, the two last fields are solved simultaneously. The methodology is illustrated on a typical example.