Work

Stimuli-responsive twist actuators made from soft elastic composite materials—linking mesoscopic and macroscopic descriptions

Year: 2021

Type: article

Abstract: Very recently, the construction of twist actuators from magnetorheological gels and elastomers has been suggested. These materials consist of magnetizable colloidal particles embedded in a soft elastic polymeric environment. The twist actuation is enabled by a net chirality of the internal particle arrangement. Upon magnetization by a homogeneous external magnetic field, the systems feature an overall torsional deformation around the magnetization direction. Starting from a discrete minimal mesoscopic model setup, we work toward a macroscopic characterization. The two scales are linked by identifying expressions for the macroscopic system parameters as functions of the mesoscopic model parameters. In this way, the observed behavior of a macroscopic system can, in principle, be mapped to and illustratively be understood from an appropriate mesoscopic picture. Our results apply equally well to corresponding soft electrorheological gels and elastomers.

Source: The Journal of Chemical Physics

DOI: 10.1063/5.0043911

Author: Andreas M. Menzel

Institution: Otto-von-Guericke-Universität Magdeburg

Language: English

Topic: Advanced Materials and Mechanics

Subfield: Mechanical Engineering

Field: Engineering

Domain: Physical Sciences

Open Access status: green

Funder: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft

Award: G2329925617