Enhanced microactuation with magnetic field curing of magnetorheological elastomers based on iron–natural rubber nanocomposites

Abstract

The incorporation of nanoparticles of iron in a natural rubber matrix leads to flexible magnetorheological (MR) materials. Rod-shaped MR elastomers based on natural rubber and nanosized iron have been moulded both with and without the application of an external magnetic field during curing. These MR elastomer rods and filler material were characterized by X-ray powder diffraction, scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy. Magnetic properties were investigated by using vibrating sample magnetometry. Microactuation studies were carried out by employing a laser Doppler vibrometer. It is seen that microactuation of field cured samples have been enhanced by two times when compared with that of zero field cured samples. The effect of alignment of magnetic particles during field-assisted curing was also studied by using a dynamic mechanical analyzer. A plausible model is put forwarded to explain the observed enhancement of actuation for field cured samples.

Building Magnetoresponsive Composite Elastomers for Bionic Locomotion Applications

“…The variables of embedded particles include the type, shape, size, content, and coating that have prominent influences on magnetoresponsive composite elastomers. Carbonyl iron [41][42][43] , Fe 2 O 3 [44] , Fe 3 O 4 [45][46][47] , Fe-Co 3 [48] , CoFe 2 O 4 [49] , Fe [50,51] , nickel [52] , have been utilized as magnetizable particles. The high permeability, low remanence, and high saturation magnetization lead to the widespread employ of carbonyl iron particles.…”

Magnetic Particle Filled Elastomeric Hybrid Composites and Their Magnetorheological Response

“…Several groups have also reported the effects of magnetized nanoparticles of CoFe 2 O 4 [ 63 ], Ni [ 64 ] and FeCo 3 [ 65 ] included in MR elastomers (i.e., silicone rubber) and Fe [ 66 ] incorporated in MR suspensions (or MR elastomers) on the MR elastomer composites.…”

Reinforced, Extruded, Isotropic Magnetic Elastomer Composites: Fabrication and Properties

“…The vast majority of MREs described in the literature contain carbonyl iron powder (CIP) particles added into the elastomer matrix [13][14][15]. There is also a group of magnetorheological elastomers produced with the usage of COFe 2 O 4 [16], SiC [17], Ni [18], FeCo 3 [19], and Fe [20]. Aside from the aspects related to the magnetic particles, the selection of matrix type also plays an important role in the MRE properties.…”