Magneto-viscoelasticity of hard-magnetic soft-elastomers: Application to modeling the dynamic snap-through behavior of a bistable arch

Hard-magnetic soft-elastomeric materials show great potential for use in applications where the ability of remote actuation, together with high-flexibility and low-weight are important. One promising type of magnetic-actuator made from such a material is a bistable arch which can harness snap-through instabilities for short response times and high actuation forces. In this paper we formulate a continuum finite-deformation theory for magneto-viscoelasticity of hard-magnetic soft-elastomeric materials. We have numerically implemented the theory in a finite element program. We show that our theory, when suitably calibrated, can reproduce the results from several magnetically-induced snap-through experiments on a bistable arch reported recently by Tan et al. (2022). Finally, we demonstrate the broader usefulness of our theory and its numerical implementation by successfully simulating the complex and reversible magnetically-induced snap-through eversion of a hemispherical shell.

Automated summary

This paper presents a continuum finite-deformation theory for magneto-viscoelasticity of hard-magnetic soft-elastomeric materials, which have great potential for applications requiring remote actuation, high flexibility, and low weight. The theory is numerically implemented and successfully used to simulate magnetically-induced snap-through experiments and the reversible snap-through eversion of a hemispherical shell.