Magnetically responsive gels

Magnetically responsive gels are soft solids that change their size and shape in response to a magnetic field. The ability to create such materials has driven the development of new technologies for soft robotics, biomedicine, and drug delivery. However, a key challenge of using magnetically responsive gels in applications is that their complex behaviour is difficult to predict and not well understood. The complexities arise from the wide range of physics that come into play, which includes elasticity, magnetism, and fluid transport.

The objective of this project is to develop experimentally validated mathematical models of magnetically responsive gels. The long-term goal is to use these models to design “programmable” gels that will morph into specific shape when subject to an external magnetic field. Specific objectives of this project include:

• Developing mathematical models of magnetically responsive gels based on continuum mechanics
• Validating the models against experimental data
• Deriving simplified models for thin gels
• Numerically solving the models using the finite element method
• Using machine learning to determine how to design gels that morph into specific shapes

This project will be co-supervised by Stuart Thomson and carried out in collaboration with researchers in the Department of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering at the University of Cyprus.