A unique concept for harvesting electrical energy from thermal energy is presented. A thermomechanical actuator was fabricated using ferromagnetic material. The device converts thermal energy into mechanical energy, which can be converted into electrical energy using piezoelectric materials. Magnetic force and operating frequency were measured on the device. Results show that the current power density at ΔT=50K is between 1.85 and 3.61mW∕cm2. A thermal finite element analysis model is also presented to understand the influence of thermal interface, suggesting that increases of 18.5mW∕cm2 or higher are achievable.

Thin film nitinol and single crystal Ni-Mn-Ga represent two new shape memory materials with potential to be used as percutaneously placed implant devices. However, the biocompatibility of these materials has not been adequately assessed. Immersion tests were conducted on both thin film nitinol and single crystal Ni-Mn-Ga in Hank's balanced salt solution at 37 degrees C and pH 7.4. After 12 h, large pits were found on the Ni-Mn-Ga samples while thin film nitinol displayed no signs of corrosion. Further electrochemical tests on thin film nitinol samples revealed breakdown potentials superior to a mechanically polished nitinol disc. These results suggest that passivation or electropolishing of thin film nitinol maybe unnecessary to promote corrosion resistance.

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304 stainless steel samples were patterned with either a photoresist (PR) mask or a silicon nitride (Si3Ni4) mask and then subjected to either wet immersion etching or spray etching techniques with ferric chloride (FeCl3). The silicon nitride mask provides much better adhesion to the stainless steel substrate resulting in less undercut compared to the PR mask. When a silicon nitride mask was subjected to spray etching, better adhesion and less undercut enabled features as small as 1.8 µm with an etch depth of 5.6 µm. This is an order of magnitude smaller than current spray etching techniques (20–50 µm) used in the steel industry. This procedure will allow spray etching features for batch fabrication for a variety of metals including steels, aluminum, nickel-based alloys and copper-based alloys with microscale resolution.