The increase in use of Terfenol-D in transducers required new production techniques that increased production rates and quality because the original methods were unreliable and small scale. There are four methods that are used to produce Terfenol-D, which are free stand zone melting, modified Bridgman, sintered powder compact, and polymer matrix composites.
The first two methods, free stand zone melting (FSZM) and modified Bridgman (MB), are capable of producing Terfenol-D that has high magnetostrictive properties and energy densities. However, FSZM cannot produce a rod larger than 8 mm in diameter due to the surface tension of the Terfenol-D and how the FSZM process has no container to restrict the material. The MB process offers a minimum of 10 mm diameter size and is only restricted due to the wall interfering with the crystal growth. Both methods create solid crystals that require later manufacturing if a geometry other than a right-angle cylinder is needed. The solid crystals produced have a fine lamellar structure.
The other two techniques, sintered powder compact and polymer matrix composites, are powder based. These techniques allow for intricate geometry and detail. However, the size is limited to 10mm in diameter and 100mm in length due to the molds used. The resulting microstructures of these powder based methods differ from the solid crystal ones because they do not have a lamellar structure and have a lower density. However, all methods have similar magnetostrictive properties.
Due to size restriction, MB is the best process to produce Terfenol-D, however it is a labor-intensive method. A newer process like MB is ET-Ryma crystal growth (ECG) that results in larger diameter Terfenol-D crystals and increased magnetostrictive performance. The reliability of magnetostrictive properties of the Terfenol-D throughout the life of the material is increased by using ET-Ryma.
Terfenol-D has some minor drawbacks which stem from its material properties. Terfenol-D has low ductility and low fracture resistance. To solve this, Terfenol-D has been added to polymers and other metals to create composites. When added to polymers, the stiffness of the resulting composite is low. When composites of Terfenol-D with ductile metal binders are created, the resulting material has increased stiffness and ductility with reduced magnetostrictive properties. These metal composites may be formed by explosion compaction. In a study done on processing Terfenol-D alloys, the resulting alloys created using copper and Terfenol-D had increased strength and hardness values, which supports the theory that the composites of ductile metal binders and Terfenol-D result in a stronger and more ductile material.