MAGNETOSTRICTIVE PHENOMENA IN MAGNETORHEOLOGICAL ELASTOMERS

Abstract

A host of fascinating and useful magnetic phenomena are found in composites containing magnetizable particles in viscoelastic solids. Embedding magnetically soft iron particles in natural rubber produces a class of magnetostrictive composites sometimes termed magnetorheological (MR) elastomers. We have previously shown that these materials can exhibit viscoelastic moduli that increase substantially in an applied magnetic field. In this paper, we incorporate MR elastomers in a simple resonant structure called a tuned absorber to measure the complex dynamic shear moduli of these materials at high frequencies. We find that the fluid-induced modulus increase in MR elastomers is substantial even at kilohertz mechanical frequencies. As in previous measurements at low frequencies, the moduli are generally found to decrease with strain amplitude. We also report preliminary measurements of the relatively large elongation of these materials in applied magnetic fields.