MARECO

MARECO: MAgneto-Rheological elastomers for Energy COnversionAxes: Materials & Structure Design, TransportationLeaders: Masami NAKANO (ELyTMaX/IFS, TU) & Gaël SEBALD (ELyTMaX, UdL, TU, CNRS)Participants: Mickaël LALLART (LGEF, INSA), Jean-Yves CAVAILLE (ELyTMaX, UdL, TU, CNRS), Gildas DIGUET (ELyTMaX, UdL, TU, CNRS)A Magneto-Rheological Elastomer (MRE) exhibits a magneto-mechanical coupling, i.e. a dependence of the mechanical modulus on the magnetic field and a dependence of the magnetic permeability on the mechanical strain. However, the latter effect has been barely considered within the scientific community. MRE can therefore be utilized forenergy conversion, such as vibrational energy converted into magnetic one, and through induction in coils, into electrical one. In the framework of energy harvesting from vibrations, the use of soft polymers offers the advantages of being low-cost and mechanically very soft compared to their piezoelectric counterparts. Within this project, we aim at evaluating and enhancing the capability of MRE for energy harvesting by working on three complementary aspects: elaboration and optimization of the material, modeling and characterization, and application to the design of an energy harvesting demonstrator.Articles in peer-reviewed international journals

1. G. Sebald, M. Nakano, M. Lallart, T. Tian, G. Diguet, J.-Y. Cavaille, Energy conversion in magneto-rheological elastomers, Science and Technology of Advanced Materials 18(1) (2017) 766-778doi: 10.1080/14686996.2017.1377590
2. M. Lallart, G. Sebald, G. Diguet, J.-Y. Cavaille, M. Nakano, Anisotropic magnetorheological elastomers for mechanical to electrical energy conversion, Journal of Applied Physics 122 (2017) 103902doi: 10.1063/1.4998999