Biomimetic
actuators with stimuli-responsiveness, adaptivity, and
designability have attracted extensive attention. Recently, soft intelligent
actuators based on stimuli-responsive materials have been gradually
developed, but it is still challenging to achieve various shape manipulations
of actuators through a simple 3D printing technology. In this paper,
a 3D printing strategy based on magneto-active materials is developed
to manufacture various biomimetic magnetic actuators, in which the
new printable magnetic filament is composed of a thermoplastic rubber
material and magnetic particles. The continuous shape transformation
of magnetic actuators is further demonstrated to imitate the motion
characteristic of creatures, including the predation behavior of octopus
tentacles, the flying behavior of the butterfly, and the flower blooming
behavior of the plant. Furthermore, the magnetic field-induced deformation
of the biomimetic structure can be simulated by the finite element
method, which can further guide the structural design of the actuators.
This work proves that the biomimetic actuator based on soft magneto-active
materials has the advantages of programmable integrated structure,
rapid prototyping, remote noncontact actuation, and rapid magnetic
response. As a result, this 3D printing method possesses broad application
prospects in soft robotics and other fields.
This article presents the development of an active-damping-compensated magnetorheological elastomer (MRE) adaptive tuned vibration absorber (ATVA). The principle and the vibration attenuation performance of the proposed active-damping-compensated ATVA were theoretically analyzed. Based on the analysis, a prototype was designed and manufactured. Its dynamic properties and vibration attenuation performances were experimentally investigated. The experimental results demonstrated that the damping ratio of the prototype was significantly reduced by the active force. Consequently, its vibration attenuation capability was significantly improved compared with a conventional MRE ATVA.
On fabricating magnetorheolgoical elastomer, the mixture of iron particles and un-vulcanized rubber is placed under a curing magnetic field for some time so that iron particles are driven by the magnetic force to form a columnar structure; this process is called the pre-structure process. The microstructure of a magnetorheological elastomer sample is influenced by the pre-structure process, however, few reports address this problem in detail. This paper aims to study the effect of the pre-structure process on the magnetorheological elastomer performance. The pre-structure process is dominated by three influencing factors: magnetic field, curing time and temperature. A variety of magnetorheological elastomer samples were fabricated under different pre-structure conditions and their shear moduli were measured by using a dynamic mechanics analyzer machine. Scanning electron microscope images of these samples were also taken. The results demonstrated the magnetic field-induced modulus shows an increasing trend with magnetic strength before the magnetorheological elastomer samples reach magnetic saturation. The relative magnetorheological effect has an optimal value when the pre-structure field is 110 mT. The effects of the pre-structure time and temperature on the magnetorheological effect were also addressed by using the optimal pre-structure field. These three pre-structure conditions also affect each other. Thus, to fabricate higher-performance magnetorheological elastomer, these pre-structure conditions should be optimized. These results were also explained by study of the particle motion within the matrix.
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