Surface relief of magnetoactive elastomeric films in a homogeneous magnetic field: molecular dynamics simulations

Author(s)
Pedro A. Sánchez, Elena Minina, Sofia Kantorovich, Elena Yu. Kramarenko
Abstract

The structure of a thin magnetoactive elastomeric (MAE) film adsorbed on a solid substrate is studied by molecular dynamics simulations. Within the adopted coarse-grained approach, a MAE film consists of magnetic particles modeled as soft-core spheres, carrying point dipoles, connected by elastic springs representing a polymer matrix. MAE films containing 20, 25 and 30 vol% of randomly distributed magnetic particles are simulated. Once a magnetic field is applied, the competition between dipolar, elastic and Zeeman forces leads to the restructuring of the layer. The distribution of the magnetic particles as well as elastic strains within the MAE films are calculated for various magnetic fields applied perpendicular to the film surface. It is shown that the surface roughness increases strongly with growing magnetic field. For a given magnetic field, the roughness is larger for the softer polymeric matrix and exhibits a nonmonotonic dependence on the magnetic particle concentration. The obtained results provide a better understanding of the MAE surface structuring as well as possible guidelines for fabrication of MAE films with a tunable surface topology.

Organisation(s)
Computational and Soft Matter Physics
External organisation(s)
Ural Federal University, Anuchin Research Institute and Museum of Anthropology, Russian Academy of Sciences
Journal
Soft Matter
Volume
15
Pages
175-189
No. of pages
15
ISSN
1744-683X
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1039/C8SM01850B
Publication date
11-2018
Peer reviewed
Yes
Austrian Fields of Science 2012
103020 Surface physics, 103023 Polymer physics
Keywords
ASJC Scopus subject areas
Condensed Matter Physics, General Chemistry
Portal url
https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/en/publications/bacb955e-7034-4616-b4da-fb4dc2d0f3a2