Magnetorheological fluids subjected to tension, compression, and oscillatory squeeze input

Abstract

Magnetorheological (MR) fluids are capable of changing their rheological properties under the application of external fields. When MR fluids operate in the so-called squeeze mode, in which displacement levels are limited to a few millimetres but there are large forces, they have many potential applications in vibration isolation. This paper presents an experimental and a numerical investigation of the performance of an MR fluid under tensile and compressive loads and oscillatory squeeze-flow. The performance of the fluid was found to depend dramatically on the strain direction. The shape of the stress-strain hysteresis loops was affected by the strength of the applied field, particularly when the fluid was under tensile loading. In addition, the yield force of the fluid under the oscillatory squeeze-flow mode changed almost linearly with the applied electric or magnetic field. Finally, in order to shed further light on the mechanism of the MR fluid under squeeze operation, computational fluid dynamics analyses of non-Newtonian fluid behaviour using the Bingham-plastic model were carried out. The results confirmed superior fluid performance under compressive inputs.