Influence of composition of carbonyl iron particles on dynamic mechanical properties of magnetorheological elastomers

Abstract

Magnetorheological elastomers (MRE) are known as smart materials. However, the magnetorheological (MR) effect of MRE is not high enough at present, which limits its engineering applications. Prior studies have shown that magneto-induced shear storage modulus and MR effect were mainly determined by the performance of the ferromagnetic particles. In this paper, MRE samples were prepared by carbonyl iron particles (CIP) of different compositions based on silicon rubber under external magnetic field. Their microstructures were observed using an optical digital microscope and a scanning electron microscope. The dynamic mechanical properties of MRE samples were measured using a modified dynamic mechanical analyzer under varying magnetic field strength and frequency. The results show that the carbon content of CIP have a greater impact on the dynamic mechanical properties of MRE. The magneto-induced shear storage modulus and MR effect can be increased by selecting CIP of low carbon content. In addition, the damping property is also significantly influenced by the carbon content of the CIP. This study is expected to provide guidance for fabrication of high performance MRE.