Abstract
Magnetorheological elastomer (MRE) is an intelligent composite material and has been widely used in various fields such as vibration reduction and sensing. MRE has an excellent magnetorheological effect through the chaining of its internal magnetic particles. Current studies on MREs mainly focus on the preparation of materials and characterization of mechanical properties. However, very few studies have been conducted on the mechanism of magnetic particle motion during MRE curing. Based on the silicone rubber-based MRE, the motion mechanism of magnetic particles during curing was explored through numerical simulation. First, we analyzed the magnetic force and viscous force of magnetic particles in MRE and discussed the equations of motion of magnetic particles under applied magnetic field. Further, we established a uniform magnetic field model through the finite element method and simulated the motion of two magnetic particles under the magnetic field. Finally, we discussed the effects of particle distribution angles, particle radii, applied magnetic field strength, and distance between particles on particle velocity and displacement. The results show that the distance between particles has the greatest influence on the motion of magnetic particles, and the size of the distance between particles will affect the contact time of the particles, thus affecting the chain formation of magnetic particles in the MRE.
Highlights
Magnetorheological elastomer (MRE) is a smart composite material that consists of a polymeric matrix with embedded micron-sized magnetic particles, solidifying to obtain an elastic material with variable stiffness under an applied magnetic field [1, 2]
In order to improve the mechanical properties of MRE and make it more widely used in engineering applications, further study on its motion of magnetic particles is essential
Since the movement of magnetic particles in MRE directly affects its mechanical properties, the single factor analysis method was used to analyze the influence of four different factors on motion of particles in chain formation, including the distribution angle between two magnetic particles, particle radius, the strength of applied magnetic field, and distance between the particles
Summary
Magnetorheological elastomer (MRE) is a smart composite material that consists of a polymeric matrix with embedded micron-sized magnetic particles, solidifying to obtain an elastic material with variable stiffness under an applied magnetic field [1, 2]. In order to improve the mechanical properties of MRE and make it more widely used in engineering applications, further study on its motion of magnetic particles is essential. There are few studies on the chain formation of magnetic particles in MRE under magnetic field, the existing research generally analyzes the formation of chain by magnetic dipole theory [15, 16] or study on the final arrangement of magnetic particle chains by changing the influence of different external conditions [17], and there is less quantitative analysis of magnetic particle motion during MRE curing. The contact time of magnetic particles under different conditions was analyzed, and the results show that changing the distance between two magnetic particles under the same ratio significantly increases the efficiency of particle chain formation. The larger the distance between the particles, the longer the contact time, which provides an effective theoretical basis for preparing a silicone rubberbased MRE with excellent performance
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