arXiv subjects

Dirk Romeis

Publications and source records attributed to Dirk Romeis.

4 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Influence of near-field effect on magnetic hysteresis in magneto-active elastomers

Magneto-active elastomers (MAEs) are polymer composites consisting of magnetic microparticles embedded in an elastomeric matrix. These materials exhibit strong magneto-mechanical coupling under external magnetic fields, resulting in tunable stiffness, reversible shape changes, and nonlinear magnetic responses. This study presents a multiscale theoretical framework to investigate the origin of magnetic hysteresis in MAEs, with emphasis on the evolution of the internal microstructure during magnetization and demagnetization. The total energy of the system is formulated as the sum of magnetic and micromechanical contributions, while macroscopic deformation of a cylindrical MAE sample is fully constrained. Particle interactions are modeled first via pure dipole-dipole interactions and then extended to include higher-order near-field effects at close particle separations. The results show that hysteresis in MAEs with magnetically soft particles primarily arises from trapped microstructural rearrangements, leading to distinct particle configurations under increasing and decreasing magnetic fields. Parametric studies demonstrate that particle volume fraction, sample aspect ratio, and matrix stiffness strongly influence the microstructure evolution and the width of resulting hysteresis loops. The proposed framework provides a solid foundation for modeling magnetic hysteresis, which is essential for the design and optimization of MAEs in practical applications.

cond-mat.soft↗

arXiv2026

Beyond the dipole approximation: A compact operator form to describe magnetizable many-body systems

To describe the interactions in magnetically soft particle systems either numerical full-field methods or dipole models are used. Whereas the former are computationally challenging, simple dipole interactions are largely underestimating the actual forces when particles get closer. Based on the full 2-body solution, an analytic approximation scheme for many-body full-field interactions is developed. The concept is formulated in terms of an improved operator that is equivalent to the classical dipole form. The full interaction operator allows to describe cluster formation and dispersion among particles in applied magnetic fields very compactly and highly efficient. In view of its simple 'dipole-like' form, the implementation is straightforward in many areas where magnetically soft objects are used.

physics.class-ph↗

arXiv2025

Magnetically induced deformation of isotropic magneto-active elastomers and its relation to the magnetorheological effect

Can isotropic Magneto-Active Elastomers (MAEs) undergo giant magnetically induced deformations and exhibit huge magnetorheological effects simultaneously? In this experimental and theoretical study, we reveal how the macroscopic deformation of MAEs relates to the process of particle restructuring caused by application of a magnetic field. For this purpose, MAE cylinders with different aspect ratios and particle loadings are studied in uniform magnetic fields. The axial deformations of the cylinders are acquired using an optical camera. A unified mean-field model proposed in previous studies is adapted to describe the transition of initially isotropic cylinders into transversely isotropic ones. This mechanical transition is caused by the rearrangement of particles into dense columnar structures aligned with the field and is believed to result in a huge magnetorheological effect. Our model however predicts less than three-fold increase in elastic moduli when evaluated along the field direction. This prediction is based on a careful examination of the shear moduli of studied MAEs and the columnar structures. A weak magnetorheological effect explains significant axial deformations measured in the field direction. A strong magnetorheological effect would hinder axial deformations due to an increase in modulus by several orders of magnitude. Not only are the moduli and macroscopic deformations influenced by microstructure evolution, but so is the magnetization of particles, which increases as they rearrange into dense columns. With this study, we show that the unified mean-field model provides quantitative access to hidden material properties such as magnetization and stiffness in MAE samples with different shapes and evolving microstructures.

cond-mat.soft↗

arXiv2021

Excluded volume effects in polymer brushes at moderate chain stretching

We develop a strong stretching approximation for a polymer brush made of self-avoiding polymer chains. The density profile of the brush and the distribution of the end monomer positions in stretching direction are computed and compared with simulation data. We find that our approach leads to a clearly better approximation as compared to previous approaches based upon Gaussian elasticity at low grafting densities (moderate chain stretching), for which corrections due to finite extensibility can be ignored.

cond-mat.soft↗