Polarizing Magneto-active Elastomer Using a 3d-print
Open Access
- Area of Honors:
- Electrical Engineering
- Degree:
- Bachelor of Science
- Document Type:
- Thesis
- Thesis Supervisors:
- Paris R Vonlockette, Thesis Supervisor
- Sven G Bilen, Honors Advisor
- Keywords:
- Magneto-Active Elastomers
- MAE
- Magnetorheological effect
- 3D printing
- Paste extrusion
- Origami structures
- Abstract:
- Magneto-active elastomer is a class of material that experiences a magnetorheological effect; they bend in the presence of a magnetic field. This property can be exploited to create selfassembling structures called origami structures. A difficulty in using magneto-active elastomers in origami structures is their manufacturability. Currently, magneto-active elastomer objects are created in a mold and magnetized in large batches. This prevents the necessary scale and control over the magnetization required for origami structures. A 3D printer’s ability to assign properties to three dimensional coordinates makes it a natural manufacturing solution for origami materials. In this study, an electromagnet is integrated into a 3D printer variant, called a paste extruder, to magnetize the material during the printing process. Samples were extruded and exposed to a magnetic field for increasing amounts of time while curing. Data analysis shows that there is a positive correlation between the time the electromagnet was on and the remnant magnetization of the material.