The potentiality of composite elastic magnets as novel materials for sensors and actuators

Abstract In the last decade the progress of standard magneto-elastic materials is going toward its physical limits. New horizons are recently opened by the development of artificial composites having both elastic and magnetic properties. The working principle of these elastomagnetic materials is not depending on intrinsic magnetostriction, but on the coupling between magnetic moments of the particles and particles themselves. The possibility to study the physical mechanism that relates the elastic and magnetic properties in the new scenery furnished by composites of magnetic particles in an elastic matrix is very promising from the basic knowledge point of view. On the other side, the potential competitiveness in several applications justifies the increasing efforts to improve the production and to perform technical characterization of these magnetoelastic composites in different experimental conditions.