The 18th International Conference on Electrorheological Fluids and Magnetorheological Suspensions (ERMR 2023)

Electronic skins (e-skins), which can sense multiple stimuli from external environment by imitating natural skins, show broad application prospect in the field of portable electronic equipment and human-computer interaction. Recently, due to the complexity of practical conditions, functional integration has become an important topic, which also offers e-skins potential in actuating and controlling systems. This work proposed a feasible strategy for developing multi-functional e-skins based on the magnetorheological elastomer. By assembling three functional filler-enhanced Ecoflex composites, an e-skin with thermal-magnetic-mechanical monitoring and mechanically actuating performance was fabricated (Figure 1a). The magneto- and thermo-dependent mechanical properties were investigated via rheological measurements, and the sensing capacity to mechanical, magnetic and thermal excitations was systemically explored. Eventually, a smart gripper was developed, which could transfer the target object assisted by the magnetic field, and present real-time deformation and ambient temperature sensing characteristics (Figure 1b and c). Thus, compared with conventional magnetorheological elastomers, the novel e-skin designed by this strategy exhibited advantages in complex conditions, especially those requiring multi-field sensing and intelligent actuating performance.

magnetorheological elastomer,e-skin,thermal-magnetic-mechanical monitoring,magneto-actuating effect