Magnetoactive asymmetric mechanical metamaterial for tunable elastic cloaking

Abstract

We propose a magnetic field-induced asymmetric mechanical metamaterial for tunable transformation-based elastic cloaking. The metamaterial is designed by integrating hard-Magnetic Active Elastomers (hMAEs) and combining zero-stress collapse modes to produce a unique asymmetric behavior controlled by an external magnetic field. The relationship bridging the microstructure and the desired cloaking performance is presented. This magneto-metamaterial design is applied to achieve tunable static elastic cloaking. The theoretical predictions, together with the numerical tests under various static loads, demonstrate encouraging cloaking performance. The study also highlights the impact of magneto-mechanical coupling and offers the first remotely-controllable hMAE-based cloaking solution, with promising potential in various applications including stress shielding and stealth technologies.