3D Printing of Composite Material for Electromechanical Energy Harvesters

In this paper, a novel, composite material is proposed based on ferromagnetic wires immersed in a polymer that is well suited for 3D printing. The magnetic properties of this material are examined using FEM and compared with the properties of a more traditional composite based on magnetic powder. For a 50% ferromagnetic volume in the material, the proposed composite has a 67% higher value of saturation magnetic flux density and 87% higher value of maximum permeability, compared with the powder-based material. The authors believe that the proposed material could be used in the manufacturing of small electromechanical devices such as energy harvesters, thus vastly widening the possible fields of application related to 3D printing techniques.