Magnetorheological elastomers: Experimental characterization and dependences of the inverse effect

Abstract

Despite the growing interest in magnetorheological elastomers (MREs), a comprehensive understanding of their inverse effect continues to be lacking, hindering the full exploitation of these materials for sensing and energy harvesting applications. In this work, we present a systematic and extensive experimental study aimed at elucidating the influence of composition, fabrication processes, and geometrical features on the inverse magnetorheological response of MREs. New insights into the functional dependencies are provided, advancing current knowledge on the mechanisms governing the behavior of these materials under mechanical stimuli. These findings establish an engineering basis for the informed design and optimization of MRE-based devices, offering useful strategies for their effective realization depending on the intended application in emerging technological fields where large deformations at low frequencies are present.