A novel magnetorheological-polyethylene glycol shear thickening gel based on enhanced gel matrix

Abstract

A novel magnetorheological-polyethylene glycol (PEG) shear thickening gel (MR-PSTG) with both shear thickening and magnetorheological effect is prepared based on polyethylene glycol shear thickening gel (PSTG) matrix possessing higher relative shear thickening effect (RSTE). Firstly, a new shear thickening mechanism is revealed through Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analysis. Then, the orthogonal experiment is conducted to analyze the impact of factors on MR-PSTG and obtain the optimal factor combinations of the RSTE and relative magnetorheological effect (RMRE). Finally, the composite relative effect (CRE) is proposed to represent the comprehensive performance of MR-PSTG. Experiment results show that the RSTE increases with the increase of PEG molecular weight, and the maximum RSTE increases by 2.37 times. B atoms from the B-O-C structure in new molecular chains can share electrons with O atoms in the Si-O-Si structure to form B-O cross-linking bonds, which is responsible for the increase in RSTE. The orthogonal experiment indicates that the maximum RSTE and RMRE of MR-PSTG can reach 1024286% and 3839%, respectively. Results also show that the CIP mass fraction has the greatest impact on the RSTE, RMRE, and CRE of MR-PSTG, while the PEG mass has the smallest impact.