The magnetic field dependent dynamic properties of magnetorheological elastomers based on hard magnetic particles

Abstract

In this study, novel magnetorheological elastomers based on hard magnetic particles (H-MREs) were developed and the magnetic field dependent dynamic properties of the H-MREs were further investigated. The storage modulus of H-MREs could not only be increased by increasing magnetic field but also be decreased by the increasing magnetic field of opposite orientation. For the anisotropic H-MREs with 80 wt% NdFeB particles, the field-induced increasing and decreasing modulus was 426 kPa and 118 kPa respectively. Moreover, the dynamic performances of H-MREs significantly depended on the pre-structure magnetic field, magnetizing field and test magnetic field. The H-MREs were initially magnetized and formed the chain-like microstructure by the pre-structure magnetic field. The field-induced increasing and decreasing modulus of H-MREs both raised with increasing of the magnetizing field. When the magnetizing field increased from 400 to 1200 kA m−1, the field induced decreasing modulus of the 80 wt% isotropic H-MREs raised from 3 to 47 kPa. The magnetic field dependent curves of H-MREs’ storage modulus were asymmetric if the magnetizing field was higher than the test magnetic field. Based on the dipolar model of MREs and magnetic properties of hard magnetic material, a reasonable explanation was proposed to understand the H-MREs’ field dependent mechanical behaviors.