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New Material with Magnetic Shape-Memory

Researchers from the Mesoscopic Systems and the Soft and Living Materials groups in D-MATL and at the Paul Scherrer Institute have combined forces to develop a new material that is able to retain a given shape as soon as it is placed into a magnetic field. Unlike previous shape memory materials, this material’s memory can be switched on and off at constant temperature.  

by Marc Roland Petitmermet
Enlarged view: New Material with Magnetic Shape-Memory
Top: Programming shape-memory with a magnetic field: A 4 cm-long strip can be deformed into an arbitrary shape, which is stabilized with a uniform magnetic field applied using an arrangement of permanent magnets. This programmed shape is retained until the magnetic field is removed and the strip returns to its remembered shape in a few seconds. Bottom: Internal structure of the material, consisting of a dispersion of magneto-rheological fluid into PDMS.

Fusing the complementary expertise of these D-MATL labs, this new concept for composite materials exploits the elasticity of silicone elastomers and addressability of magnetorheological fluids. Numerous applications in medicine, aerospace, electronics, and robotics are imagined. The researchers are now publishing their results in the scientific journal Advanced Materials (link to original publication below).

Paolo Testa, Robert W. Style, Jizhai Cui, Claire Donnelly, Elena V. Borisova, Peter M. Derlet, Eric R. Dufresne and Laura J. Heyderman, Magnetically Addressable Shape-memory and Stiffening in a Composite Elastomer, Advanced Materials, 1900561 (2019). external page DOI:10.1002/adma.201900561

PSI Press Release: external page English, external page German, external page French

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