In this work, multiferroic cantilevers comprise a layer of a magnetoactive elastomer (MAE) and a commercially available piezoelectric polymer-based vibration sensor. The structures are fixed at one ...end in the horizontal plane and the magnetic field is applied vertically. First, the magnetoelectric (ME) response to uniform, triangle-wave magnetic fields with five different slew rates is investigated experimentally. Time and field dependences of the generated voltage, electric charge, and observed mechanical deflection are obtained and compared for four different thicknesses of the MAE layer. The ME responses to triangular and sinusoidal wave excitations are examined in contrast. Second, the ME response at low frequencies (≤3 Hz) is studied by the standard method of harmonic magnetic field modulation. The highest ME coupling coefficient is observed in the bias magnetic field strength of ≈73 kA/m and it is estimated to be about 3.3 ns/m (ME voltage coefficient ≈ 25 V/A) at theoretically vanishing modulation frequency (f→0 Hz). Presented results demonstrate that the investigated heterostructures are promising for applications as magnetic-field sensors and energy harvesting devices.
Magnetodielectric properties of magnetoactive elastomers comprising micrometer-sized iron particles dispersed in compliant elastomer matrices are experimentally studied in stepwise time-varying dc ...magnetic fields. It is found that imposition of magnetic field significantly increases both the effective lossless permittivity of these composite materials as well as their effective conductivity. These magnetodielectric effects are more pronounced for larger concentrations of soft-magnetic filler particles and softer elastomer matrices. The largest observed relative change of the effective dielectric constant in the maximum magnetic field of 0.57 T is of the order of 1000%. The largest observed absolute change of the loss tangent is approximately 0.8. The transient response of the magnetodielectric effect to a step magnetic-field excitation can be rather complex. It changes from a simple monotonic growth with time for small magnetic-field steps (<0.1 T) to a non-monotonic behavior with a significant rapidly appearing overshoot for large magnetic-field steps (>0.3 T). The settling time to the magnetic-field step excitation can reach roughly 1000 s and it depends on the applied magnetic field and sample composition. There is also significant hysteresis of the magnetodielectric effect on the externally applied magnetic field. These findings are attributed to the rearrangement of ferromagnetic filler particles in external magnetic fields. The results will be useful for understanding and predicting the transient behavior of magnetoactive elastomers in applications where the control magnetic field is time dependent.
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•Magnetodielectric properties of magnetoactive elastomers are experimentally studied.•Imposition of an external magnetic field significantly increases both the effective dielectric constant and the loss tangent.•The transient response of the magnetodielectric effect to step magnetic field excitations is found to be rather complex.•Significant hysteresis of the magnetodielectric effect with respect to the externally applied magnetic field is observed.
Significant deformations of bodies made from compliant magnetoactive elastomers (MAE) in magnetic fields make these materials promising for applications in magnetically controlled actuators for soft ...robotics. Reported experimental research in this context was devoted to the behaviour in the quasi-static magnetic field, but the transient dynamics are of great practical importance. This paper presents an experimental study of the transient response of apparent longitudinal and transverse strains of a family of isotropic and anisotropic MAE cylinders with six different aspect ratios in time-varying uniform magnetic fields. The time dependence of the magnetic field has a trapezoidal form, where the rate of both legs is varied between 52 and 757 kA/(s·m) and the maximum magnetic field takes three values between 153 and 505 kA/m. It is proposed to introduce four characteristic times: two for the delay of the transient response during increasing and decreasing magnetic field, as well as two for rise and fall times. To facilitate the comparison between different magnetic field rates, these characteristic times are further normalized on the rise time of the magnetic field ramp. The dependence of the normalized characteristic times on the aspect ratio, the magnetic field slew rate, maximum magnetic field values, initial internal structure (isotropic versus anisotropic specimens) and weight fraction of the soft-magnetic filler are obtained and discussed in detail. The normalized magnetostrictive hysteresis loop is introduced, and used to explain why the normalized delay times vary with changing experimental parameters.
The voltage response to pulsed uniform magnetic fields and the accompanying bending deformations of laminated cantilever structures are investigated experimentally in detail. The structures comprise ...a magnetoactive elastomer (MAE) slab and a commercially available piezoelectric polymer multilayer. The magnetic field is applied vertically and the laminated structures are customarily fixed in the horizontal plane or, alternatively, slightly tilted upwards or downwards. Six different MAE compositions incorporating three concentrations of carbonyl iron particles (70 wt%, 75 wt% and 80 wt%) and two elastomer matrices of different stiffness are used. The dependences of the generated voltage and the cantilever’s deflection on the composition of the MAE layer and its thickness are obtained. The appearance of the voltage between the electrodes of a piezoelectric material upon application of a magnetic field is considered as a manifestation of the direct magnetoelectric (ME) effect in a composite laminated structure. The ME voltage response increases with the increasing total quantity of the soft-magnetic filler in the MAE layer. The relationship between the generated voltage and the cantilever’s deflection is established. The highest observed peak voltage around 5.5 V is about 8.5-fold higher than previously reported values. The quasi-static ME voltage coefficient for this type of ME heterostructures is about 50 V/A in the magnetic field of ≈100 kA/m, obtained for the first time. The results could be useful for the development of magnetic field sensors and energy harvesting devices relying on these novel polymer composites.
Elongations of magnetoactive elastomers (MAEs) under ascending-descending uniform magnetic fields were studied experimentally using a laboratory apparatus specifically designed to measure large ...extensional strains (up to 20%) in compliant MAEs. In the literature, such a phenomenon is usually denoted as giant magnetostriction. The synthesized cylindrical MAE samples were based on polydimethylsiloxane matrices filled with micrometer-sized particles of carbonyl iron. The impact of both the macroscopic shape factor of the samples and their magneto-mechanical characteristics were evaluated. For this purpose, the aspect ratio of the MAE cylindrical samples, the concentration of magnetic particles in MAEs and the effective shear modulus were systematically varied. It was shown that the magnetically induced elongation of MAE cylinders in the maximum magnetic field of about 400 kA/m, applied along the cylinder axis, grew with the increasing aspect ratio. The effect of the sample composition is discussed in terms of magnetic filler rearrangements in magnetic fields and the observed experimental tendencies are rationalized by simple theoretical estimates. The obtained results can be used for the design of new smart materials with magnetic-field-controlled deformation properties, e.g., for soft robotics.
Herein, the effect of an applied moderate (≈240 mT) magnetic field on the work of adhesion (WoA) of mechanically soft (the shear modulus ≈10 kPa) magnetoactive elastomer (MAE) samples with two ...different mass fractions (70 and 80 wt%) of carbonyl iron powder (CIP) is concerned. The unfilled elastomer sample is used for comparison. Due to some sedimentation of filling particles, the concentration of inclusions in thin (≈10 μm) subsurface layers is different. It is shown that the WoA increases (up to 1.8‐fold) on the particle‐enriched side (PES) in the magnetic field and its value is higher for higher filler concentration. On the particle‐depleted side (PDS), WoA does not depend on particle concentration and on the magnetic field. Adhesion and friction are coupled in MAEs. No statistically significant difference in the friction coefficient, determined from the extended Amontons´ law, depending on sample side, CIP concentration, or presence of magnetic field is found. However, the PDS in the magnetic field demonstrates significantly higher critical shear stress compared to that for the PES or PDS in the absence of magnetic field. Correlations between different surface properties are discussed. Obtained results are useful for the development of magnetically controllable soft robots.
Magnetoactive elastomers can provide control of adhesion in moderate magnetic fields, easily achievable by commercial permanent magnets. The work of adhesion increases up to 1.8‐fold on the particle‐enriched side of magnetoactive elastomer samples. Neither the sample side nor the carbonyl iron powder (CIP) concentration nor the magnetic field has a statistically significant effect on the friction coefficient.
A surface relief grating with a period of 30 µm is embossed onto the surface of magnetoactive elastomer (MAE) samples in the presence of a moderate magnetic field of about 180 mT. The grating, which ...is represented as a set of parallel stripes with two different amplitude reflectivity coefficients, is detected via diffraction of a laser beam in the reflection configuration. Due to the magnetic-field-induced plasticity effect, the grating persists on the MAE surface for at least 90 h if the magnetic field remains present. When the magnetic field is removed, the diffraction efficiency vanishes in a few minutes. The described effect is much more pronounced in MAE samples with larger content of iron filler (80 wt%) than in the samples with lower content of iron filler (70 wt%). A simple theoretical model is proposed to describe the observed dependence of the diffraction efficiency on the applied magnetic field. Possible applications of MAEs as magnetically reconfigurable diffractive optical elements are discussed. It is proposed that the described experimental method can be used as a convenient tool for investigations of the dynamics of magnetically induced plasticity of MAEs on the micrometer scale.
Ultra-small-angle neutron scattering (USANS) experiments are reported on isotropic magnetoactive elastomer (MAE) samples with different concentrations of micrometer-sized iron particles in the ...presence of an in-plane magnetic field up to 350 mT. The effect of the magnetic field on the scattering curves is observed in the scattering vector range between 2.5 × 10−5 and 1.85 × 10−4 Å−1. It is found that the neutron scattering depends on the magnetization history (hysteresis). The relation of the observed changes to the magnetic-field-induced restructuring of the filler particles is discussed. The perspectives of employing USANS for investigations of the internal microstructure and its changes in magnetic field are considered.
•The large Widemann effect of several hundred ″/cm is measured in a soft magnetoactive elastomer tube.•The hysteresis of the twist angle is observed with respect to the circumferential magnetic ...field.•The remanent twist angle grows with the increasing longitudinal magnetic field.
Large twists of a soft tube (hollow cylinder) in helical magnetic fields are presented for the first time. Such a phenomenon is usually denoted as the Wiedemann effect. The tube is fabricated from a soft magnetoactive elastomer material with the shear modulus of about 56 kPa. The composite material comprises 80 mass% of micrometer-sized iron particles embedded into a polydimethylsiloxane matrix. The circular magnetic field is generated by an electric current in a straight wire passing through the inner hole of the tube. The maximum value of approximately 350″/cm is observed in a longitudinal magnetic field of a few kA/m overlapped with a circumferential magnetic field of about 1.4 kA/m on the surface of the inner hole. A pronounced hysteresis in the dependence of the Wiedemann effect on the circular magnetic field is found. The ways to enhance the Wiedemann twist in magnetoactive elastomers are discussed. The observed large effect is promising for application in magnetic-field controlled torsional actuators, in particular for soft robotics.
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