Deformation in magnetorheological elastomer and elastomer-ferromagnet composite driven by a magnetic field

Magnetorheological elastomer (MIZE) is a new class of smart materials, whose modulus can be controlled by the applied magnetic field. In this paper, using a white light speckle technique for deformation analysis, we present the real-time dynamic deformation progress (the vector diagram of the displacement or the whole-field quantitative displacement distribution) of the MIZE and the elastomer-ferromagnet composite (EFC) while the magnetic field is turned on. The experimental results verify the prediction presented in a recently published paper, (Borcea and Bruno 2001 J. Mech. Phys. Solids 49 2877-919), and reveals some interesting phenomena which will give us a deeper understanding for such smart materials.