Abstract
Magnetoactive elastomers (MAEs) are a special type of smart materials consisting of an elastic matrix with embedded microsized particles that are made of ferromagnetic materials with high or low coercivity. Due to their composition, such elastomers possess unique magnetic field-dependent material properties. The present paper compiles the results of investigations on MAEs towards an approach of their potential application as vibrating sensor elements with adaptable sensitivity. Starting with the model-based and experimental studies of the free vibrational behavior displayed by cantilevers made of MAEs, it is shown that the first bending eigenfrequency of the cantilevers depends strongly on the strength of an applied uniform magnetic field. The investigations of the forced vibration response of MAE beams subjected to in-plane kinematic excitation confirm the possibility of active magnetic control of the amplitude-frequency characteristics. With change of the uniform field strength, the MAE beam reveals different steady-state responses for the same excitation, and the resonance may occur at various ranges of the excitation frequency. Nonlinear dependencies of the amplification ratio on the excitation frequency are obtained for different magnitudes of the applied field. Furthermore, it is shown that the steady-state vibrations of MAE beams can be detected based on the magnetic field distortion. The field difference, which is measured simultaneously on the sides of a vibrating MAE beam, provides a signal with the same frequency as the excitation and an amplitude proportional to the amplitude of resulting vibrations. The presented prototype of the MAE-based vibrating unit with the field-controlled “configuration” can be implemented for realization of acceleration sensor systems with adaptable sensitivity. The ongoing research on MAEs is oriented to the use of other geometrical forms along with beams, e.g. two-dimensional structures such as membranes.
Influence of Deposition Patterns on Distortion of H13 Steel by Wire-Arc Additive Manufacturing
