Phys.org February 2, 2022
Solid–solid phase transformations can affect energy transduction and change material properties. A team of researchers at UMass Amherst developed elasto-magnetic metamaterials that display phase transformation behaviors due to nonlinear interactions between internal elastic structures and embedded, macroscale magnetic domains. They also developed the design algorithms that allow these materials to be programmed with specific responses, making them predictable. Using predictive model, they developed a quantitative phase map that relates the geometry and magnetic interactions to the phase transformation. According to the researchers their work demonstrates that the new material holds great promise for a very wide array of applications, from enabling robots to have more power without using additional energy, to new helmets and protective materials that can dissipate energy much more quickly…read more. Open Access TECHNICAL ARTICLEÂ
Elasto-magnetic metamaterials composed of polymeric networks and interacting magnetic domains… Credit: PNAS January 4, 2022 119 (1) e2118161119Â