The study of natural rubber/polybutadiene rubber hybrid matrix-based magnetorheological elastomer

Abstract

Magnetorheological elastomer (MRE) that consists of matrix materials and magnetic particles is a kind of smart material, whose mechanical properties were controllable under external magnetic field. In this work, natural rubber (NR)/polybutadiene rubber (BR) hybrid matrix-based MRE was prepared. The compatibility of NR and BR was studied by experiment and molecular dynamic (MD) simulation. The hybrid matrix was prepared using the physical mixing method. The characterization results showed that BR had excellent compatibility with NR. The measurement result using rheometer showed that the MR effect can be increased to 44.19% by the addition of BR. Dynamic mechanical analysis showed that the hybrid matrix formed a homogeneous system when the ratio of BR and NR is 1:9 and 3:7. The MD simulation showed that the BR and NR are compatible and the cohesive energy density of hybrid matrix was smaller than BR and NR. The cohesive energy density of hybrid matrix was increased with the increase of BR.