For actuator applications, maximum rotation of magnetic moments leads to the highest possible magnetostriction output. This can be achieved by processing techniques such as stress annealing and field annealing. However, mechanical pre-stresses can also be applied to thin sheets to induce alignment perpendicular to actuation as long as the stress is below the buckling limit. For example, it has been demonstrated that applied compressive pre-stress of up to ~50 MPa can result in an increase of magnetostriction by ~90%. This is hypothesized to be due to a "jump" in initial alignment of domains perpendicular to applied stress and improved final alignment parallel to applied stress.