Publication

Abstract : Magneto-elastic slender structures exhibit complex coupling between magnetism and elasticity. Purely magnetic slender structures and purely elastic slender structures have each been studied separately in great detail. However, very little is known about the complex coupling between magnetism and elasticity in slender structures. Ferromagnetic solids (Iron, Nickel, Galfenol etc.) are known to deform when magnetised, a phenomenon known as magnetostriction. However, even under large external magnetic fields magnetostriction strains is small, typically in the order of ∼ O(10^−5). In order to obtain large displacements while retaining the ability of remote actuation, we propose two strategies: 1) Slender structures composed of ferromagnetic solids, and 2) Using magneto-active composite materials or magneto-active polymers (MAPs). The first strategy involves deriving an effective energy for ferromagnetic slender structures, followed by studying the resulting equilibrium equations. The second strategy involves developing a homogenised model for MAPs using 2-scale asymptotic expansions and studying the desired macroscopic properties.