This research proposal concerns the mechanics of fibered Soft Active Materials (SAM) and wants to exploit their peculiar behavior for new applications whilst reinforcing the theoretical knowledge paramount to their accurate modeling. The applications are concerning fiber reinforced magneto-rheological elastomers (fMRE) and fiber reinforced electro-rheological elastomers (fERE), which are interesting materials, due to their capability of bearing large deformations, controlled by external fields, either electric or magnetic in the present case. The fibers are usually the active part of the composite and are embedded into a highly deformable matrix. Their active behavior can be described within the framework of finite elasticity with remodeling distortions that has already successfully applied to the myocardium tissues by some components of the research group. One of the short-term goals of the project will be the active control of the micro and macro shape-changes of these materials via theoretical and computational modeling.
As long-term objectives, the focus of this project is on two applications: vibration absorbers and dampers with magnetically controllable hysteresis and virtual artificial prototypes of myocardium patches, a sort of precursors of the in-vitro engineered constructs of functional myocardium which are currently under investigation. The applications can be realized by using fMRE and fERE; both the applications require the active control of the micro and macro shape-changes of those materials.
