期刊名称:Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
印刷版ISSN:0027-8424
电子版ISSN:1091-6490
出版年度:2022
卷号:119
期号:1
DOI:10.1073/pnas.2118161119
语种:English
出版社:The National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
摘要:Significance
Material phase transitions offer promise for driving motion and managing high-rate energy transfer events; however, engineering conventional phase transitions at a molecular or atomic level is challenging. We overcome this challenge by coupling multiple interacting fields within a metamaterial framework. Specifically, we embed magnetic domains, with nonlinear, orientationally dependent force interactions, within elastic structures to control reversible phase transitions and program high–strain-rate deformation. The resulting high-rate energy transformations are used to enhance elastic recoil, which could be used to drive high-power motion and to quickly dampen impact loading events. The developed Landau free energy–based model for this material system broadens the impact of this advance, setting the stage for metamaterials with wide-ranging compositions, interacting fields, and engineered properties.
Solid–solid phase transformations can affect energy transduction and change material properties (e.g., superelasticity in shape memory alloys and soft elasticity in liquid crystal elastomers). Traditionally, phase-transforming materials are based on atomic- or molecular-level thermodynamic and kinetic mechanisms. Here, we develop elasto-magnetic metamaterials that display phase transformation behaviors due to nonlinear interactions between internal elastic structures and embedded, macroscale magnetic domains. These phase transitions, similar to those in shape memory alloys and liquid crystal elastomers, have beneficial changes in strain state and mechanical properties that can drive actuations and manage overall energy transduction. The constitutive response of the elasto-magnetic metamaterial changes as the phase transitions occur, resulting in a nonmonotonic stress–strain relation that can be harnessed to enhance or mitigate energy storage and release under high–strain-rate events, such as impulsive recoil and impact. Using a Landau free energy–based predictive model, we develop a quantitative phase map that relates the geometry and magnetic interactions to the phase transformation. Our work demonstrates how controllable phase transitions in metamaterials offer performance capabilities in energy management and programmable material properties for high-rate applications.