Field-Induced Pseudoplasticity of Magnetoactive Elastomers: A Phase Transition Interpretation

In this letter, we present a new phenomenological model that on a unified basis accounts for the field/stress response of a magnetoactive elastomer that displays a so-called induced pseudoplasticity. The essence of the effect is that a composite with a sufficiently high content of the ferromagnet filler behaves elastically under zero/low field but, being subject to a stronger one, abruptly changes its mechanical response to plasticity. However, upon removing the field, the sample elasticity is restored. As a first try, a one-dimensional (1-D) variant of the model is developed. Its comparison with the results obtained in a series of mesoscopic numerical experiments performed with a quasi-1-D sample demonstrates fairly good agreement.