Fig. 1: Magnetically-induced jamming.
a Magnetic composite design enables jamming that can be actuated with an externally applied magnetic field. b The phase of the resulting structure depends on the applied load, the applied external magnetic field, and the effective susceptibility of the individual subunits (material’s magnetic properties, volume, and distribution). c–e Funnel experiments demonstrate how multi-dimensional magnetic jamming can be achieved in one, two, and three dimensions through composite design. The structures can withstand gravitational forces and maintain structural integrity when an external magnetic field is applied, while they collapse entirely once the field is removed (Scale bar: 1 cm). See Supplementary Movie 1. While these experiments focus on illustrating the transition from jammed to unjammed, Supplementary Movie 2 illustrates the transition from unjammed to jammed.
