Energy Absorption/Dissipation Performances of Magnetic-Sensitive Rubber (MSR) With Hollow Iron Balls

Abstract

A kind of novel smart buffer material, magnetic-sensitive rubber (MSR) with embedded thin-walled iron balls, is provided, and the energy absorption and energy dissipation properties are investigated numerically. Two kinds of representative volume elements (RVEs) of MSR specimens with solid or hollow iron balls are studied, respectively. Under uniaxial compression alone or combined with magnetic field, the relation between effective stress and effective strain and that between strain energy desity and total compression deformation for these two specimens are established, respectively. With the increase of strain, it is demonstrated numerically that the MSRs with hollow iron balls have better energy absorption/dissipation capability than previous MSRs with solid balls. And the applied external magnetic-field increases this capability more. Under compression, the stress concentrations in elastomer matrix around the hollow balls decrease, that could increase the ultimate compression loads before the matrix failures. This is beneficial for us to design lightweight and efficient buffers according to different application cases.