During the last few decades, magnetorheological (MR) elastomers have attracted a significant amount of attention for their enormous potential in engineering applications. Because they are a solid counterpart to MR fluids, MR elastomers exhibit a unique field-dependent material property when exposed to a magnetic field, and they overcome major issues faced in magnetorheological fluids, e.g. the deposition of iron particles, sealing problems and environmental contamination. Such advantages offer great potential for designing intelligent devices to be used in various engineering fields, especially in fields that involve vibration reduction and isolation. This paper presents a state of the art review on the recent progress of MR elastomer technology, with special emphasis on the research and development of MR elastomer devices and their applications. To keep the integrity of the knowledge, this review includes a brief introduction of MR elastomer materials and follows with a discussion of critical issues involved in designing magnetorheological elastomer devices, i.e. operation modes, coil placements and principle fundamentals. A comprehensive review has been presented on the research and development of MR elastomer devices, including vibration absorbers, vibration isolators, base isolators, sensing devices, and so on. A summary of the research on the modeling mechanical behavior for both the material and the devices is presented. Finally, the challenges and the potential facing magnetorheological elastomer technology are discussed, and suggestions have been made based on the authors’ knowledge and experience.

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A state-of-the-art review on magnetorheological elastomer devices

Magnetorheological (MR) materials are classified as smart materials due to their responsiveness to external magnetic stimuli. Intensive research on MR materials has led to broad applications in several potential fields. A solid carrier matrix state called MR elastomer with its exceptional magnetic responsive feature is obtained by merging magnetizable particles within an elastomeric polymer. This integration results in outstanding characteristics on the rheological performances. Special prominence is given to the understanding of the base materials and fabrication as well as the functional behavior through various characterization methods. Broad applications of MREs are also explored to provide a profound market picture and to motivate researchers to develop novel technology. The functional behavior of MREs is briefly explained. The art of the materials provides the current position and mapping of the matrix and filler particles. Types of matrix and particles are mentioned together with the level of the research interest on MREs. Description of the fabrication is provided in simple diagrams as summarized from previous works to enhance the MREs performance. The possible tests to reveal the characteristics of the MREs are delivered with the global experimental setup. The review also explains the applications of MREs as well as discussion on the MREs future promising applications.

Recent Progress on Magnetorheological Solids: Materials, Fabrication, Testing, and Applications†

Smart materials are kinds of designed materials whose properties are controllable with the application of external stimuli such as the magnetic field, electric field, stress, and heat. Smart materials whose rheological properties are controlled by externally applied magnetic field are known as magneto-rheological materials. Magneto-rheological materials actively used for engineering applications include fluids, foams, grease, elastomers, and plastomers. In the last two decades, magneto-rheological materials have gained great attention of researchers significantly because of their salient controllable properties and potential applications to various fields such as automotive industry, civil environment, and military sector. This article offers a recent progressive review on the magneto-rheological materials technology, especially focusing on numerous application devices and systems utilizing magneto-rheological materials. Conceivable limitations, challenges, and comparable advantages of applying these magn...

A state of art on magneto-rheological materials and their potential applications:

The actuation behavior of soft silicone-based magnetorheological elastomers in magnetic fields of variable strength was investigated. An inhomogeneous magnetic field gives rise to a reversible actu...

Soft magnetorheological elastomers as new actuators for valves

The phase behavior of polymer solutions and composites is a complex issue and is of both technological and fundamental interest. For a better understanding of the microstructure formation in magnetorheological (MR) elastomers, x-ray micro-computed tomography (XμCT) investigations were carried out. Magnetorheological elastomers with 5% mass content of iron powder were prepared under different magnetic field strengths between 1 and 220 kA m−1. Through quantitative analysis, valuable information was obtained regarding the number, size and frequency distribution of column structures in MR elastomers, as well as the magnetic field required to force structure formation.

https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/0964-1726/21/10/105018/pdf

Xianzhou Zhang

Papers

Research and Applications of MR Elastomers