Experimental Investigation on the Effect of Graphene Oxide Additive on the Steady-State and Dynamic Shear Properties of PDMS-Based Magnetorheological Elastomer.

Isotropic polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS)-based magnetorheological elastomers (MREs) filled with various contents of graphene oxide (GO) additive were fabricated by the solution blending-casting method in this work. The morphologies of the produced MREs were characterized, and the results indicate that the uniform distribution of GO sheets and carbonyl iron particles (CIPs) becomes difficult with the increase of GO content. The steady-state and dynamic shear properties of the MREs under different magnetic field strengths were evaluated using parallel plate rheometer. It was found that the physical stiffness effect of GO sheets leads to the increase of the zero-field shear modulus with increasing GO content under both the steady-state and dynamic shear loads. The chemical crosslinking density of PDMS matrix decreases with the GO content due to the strong physical crosslinking between GO and the PDMS matrix. Thus, the MREs filled with higher GO content exhibit more fluid-like behavior. Under the dynamic shear load, the absolute MR effect increases with the GO content due to the increased flexibility of the PDMS matrix and the dynamic self-stiffening effect occurring in the physical crosslinking interfaces around GO sheets. The highest relative MR effect was achieved by the MREs filled with 0.1 wt.% GO sheets. Then, the relative MR effect decreases with the further increase of GO content due to the improved zero-field modulus and the increased agglomerations of GO and CIPs. This study shows that the addition of GO sheets is a possible way to prepare new MREs with high MR effect, while simultaneously possessing high zero-field stiffness and load bearing capability.

A Magneto-Hyperelastic Model for Silicone Rubber-Based Isotropic Magnetorheological Elastomer under Quasi-Static Compressive Loading.

A new magneto-hyperelastic model was developed to describe the quasi-static compression behavior of silicone rubber-based isotropic magnetorheological elastomer (MRE) in this work. The magnetization property of MRE was characterized by a vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM), and the quasi-static compression property under different magnetic fields was tested by using a universal testing machine equipped with a magnetic field accessory. Experimental results suggested that the stiffness of the isotropic MRE increased with the magnetic flux density within the tested range. Based on experimental results, a new magneto-hyperelastic model was established by coupling the Ogden hyperelastic model, the magnetization model and the magneto-induced modulus model based on a magnetic dipole theory. The results show that the proposed new model can accurately predict the quasi-static compression property of the isotropic MRE under the tested magnetic flux density and strain ranges using only three model parameters.