摘要 |
When a single-crystal magnetostrictive material containing R (rare earth metal element) and TM (transition metal element) and having a dendrite structure is produced, the present invention is directed to eliminate the limitation of a continuously producible length, to suppress wastes of materials and useless power, and to facilitate regulation of a feed current to a heater. Furthermore, the present invention is directed to produce a high quality crystalline member devoid of disorder of a crystal arrangement and having a great magnetostrictive quantity at a low cost. The present invention uses a single-crystal magnetostrictive material production apparatus including a hopper (10) for accommodating starting materials (1), means (20) for continuously feeding the starting materials (1) in a unit quantity per unit time into a casting mold (30), a heater (40) for melting the starting materials (1) in the casting mold (30), elevation means for relatively raising the heater (40) with respect to the starting materials (1) fed, and means for radiating the heat of the molten starting materials. <IMAGE> |