Applications of magnetically active fibre reinforced composites

As the application of fibre reinforced polymer composites (FRP) becomes more widespread there is a desire to add functionality beyond that of simple mechanical properties in order to facilitate the development of 'smart' materials. For example, the functionality being discussed in this paper is the imparting of significant magnetic properties to a FRP. This can take the form of soft magnetic performance for use in electrical machines or hard magnetic performance for novel forms of sensing or power generation. It has been demonstrated that by using hollow glass fibres as a reinforcement, magnetic material can be introduced into these fibres without significant effects on the structural behaviour of the FRP. The current studies have included the assessment of such a magnetic FRP in a variety of applications. The addition of hard magnetic materials, e.g. magnetite and barium ferrite, has been achieved through the use of nanopowders and the resulting FRP has been assessed for morphing structures applications. The magnitude of magnetic performance that can be currently achieved is controlled by the availability of suitable magnetic materials in fine powder form and the volume of magnetic material which can be incorporated within the fibres.