The aim of the collaboration is to develop and test experimentally a reliable mathematical model for magnetic foams taking into account hysteresis effects in the material, with the goal to provide, as output, parameters needed to obtain optimal performance in both "passive" (structural reinforcement and gradient properties) and "active" modes (actuation and control through magnetic field) of lightweight porous polymeric structures reinforced with aligned magnetic particles. The average distribution, size and shape of particles, their magnetic characteristics, and mechanical properties of the foam will be considered as processing parameters. Homogenization techniques will be adopted in order to derive simple constitutive relationships for low computational requirements. The developed constitutive model will be phenomenological, while the governing equations will be based on the magnetic and mechanical balance laws. The development and validation of the model will be performed by comparing predictions with experiments.
Main investigator:
Participating institutions:
Institute of Mathematics, Czech Academy of Sciences
Institute for Polymers, Composites and Biomaterials, National Research Council, Italy
