Magnetoactive elastomers based on ferromagnetic and ferroelectric particles: A FORC approach

•Magnetic properties of the multiferroic elastomers were investigated by the FORC method.•At least two possible magnetization reversal processes in multiferroic magnetoactive elastomers were detected by FORCs.•The FE microparticles modulate the spatial distribution of FM particles and polymer properties. Composites based on ferromagnetic (FM) microparticles or a mixture of FM and ferroelectric (FE) microparticles embedded into a soft polymer matrix were studied. This class of materials belongs to magnetoactive elastomers (MAE) which received renewed interest stimulated by breakthroughs in their applications, for example, in soft robots and biomedical technologies. Moreover, the MAE with a mixture of FM and FE particles exhibit multiferroic properties which open new ways for their application. Here, the magnetic properties of this type of material were studied using the First Order Reversal Curve (FORC) method in terms of local distributions of the switching fields and interaction fields. In particular, the influence of FE particles on the magnetization reversal processes was determined. The latter is related to the influence of FE particles on the structural properties of the polymer and the possibility of displacement of FM particles in the matrix.