The Influence of Additives on the Rheological and Sedimentary Properties of Magnetorheological Fluid

In this research, the influence of additives on the rheological and sedimentary properties of the magnetorheological fluid (MRF) was tested and analyzed. The additives were stearic acid, sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS), and their mixture, respectively. The MRF was composed of carbonyl iron particle, silicone oil, liquid paraffin, graphite particle, bentonite, stearic acid, and SDS. The results indicated that the rheological properties of the MRF were mainly influenced by the mass fraction of carbonyl iron particle. When the mass fractions of carbonyl iron particle and additive were the same, the shear stress of MRF with stearic acid was larger than that of MRF with SDS, and the maximum increment was 73.81%. When the mass fraction of carbonyl iron particle was 40–50%, the shear stress of MRF increased firstly and then decreased with the increase of the external magnetic flux density. When the mass fraction of carbonyl iron particle was 60–70%, the shear stress of MRF increased firstly and then was stable with the increase of the external magnetic flux density. The results indicated that the sedimentary property of MRF with the mixture was better than that of MRF with the stearic acid and SDS. The settling rate of MRF with the mixture increased 91.53% compared to other additives.

Effects of Silicone Oil Viscosity and Carbonyl Iron Particle Weight Fraction and Size on Yield Stress for Magnetorheological Grease Based on a New Preparation Technique

This paper investigated the effects of silicone oil viscosity (SOV) and carbonyl iron particle (CIP) weight fraction and size on dynamic yield stress for magnetorheological (MR) grease. The MR grease samples were prepared using orthogonal array L9 on the basis of a new preparation technology. The shear rheological tests were undertaken using a rotational shear rheometer and yield stress was obtained based on the Bingham fluid model. It was found that CIP fractions ranging from 65 wt% to 75 wt% and SOV varying from 50 m2·s−1 to 1000 m2·s−1 significantly affect the magnetic field-dependent yield stress of MR grease, but the CIPs with sizes of 3.2–3.9 μm hardly had any influence based on the analysis of variance (ANOVA). In addition, the yield stress of MR grease mainly depended on the CIP fraction and SOV by comparing their percent contribution (PC). It was further confirmed that there were positive effects of CIP fraction and SOV on yield stress through response surface analysis (RSA). The results showed a high dynamic yield stress. It indicated that MR grease is an intelligent material candidate which can be applied to many different areas requiring high field-induced rheological capabilities without flow for suspension. Moreover, based upon the multivariate regression equation, a constitutive model was developed to express the function of the yield stress as the SOV and fraction of CIPs under the application of magnetic fields.

The field-dependent viscoelastic and transient responses of plate-like carbonyl iron particle based magnetorheological greases

The field-dependent viscoelastic and transient behaviours of plate-like-carbonyl-iron-particle-based magnetorheological greases are experimentally investigated in this study. The plate-like carbonyl-iron particles are made from spherical carbonyl-iron particles through a milling process using a rotary ball mill. Several samples of magnetorheological greases consisting of different weight percentages of plate-like carbonyl-iron particles are prepared. The surface microstructures and distributions of the plate-like carbonyl-iron particles in the grease are observed using various types of microscopic investigations. Subsequently, the viscoelastic and transient (dynamic) rheological properties of the plate-like carbonyl-iron particles are investigated using a commercial rheometer. The spherical carbonyl-iron particles are transformed into the flattened plate-like carbonyl-iron particles with a larger surface diameter. It is shown that the viscoelastic properties such as storage modulus and response time of the plate-like carbonyl-iron particles significantly depend on the shape and particle weight fraction. The findings reveal that the shape of the carbonyl-iron particles has a significant effect on the field-dependent behaviours. Thus, the results presented in this work provide very useful scientific contributions for devising appropriate applications utilizing the plate-like-carbonyl-iron-particle-based magnetorheological greases.

Rheological properties of dimorphic magnetorheological gels mixed dendritic carbonyl iron powder

Magnetorheological gels typically are colloids of spherical micrometer magnetic particles dispersed in a high-viscosity polymer matrix. However, some major parameters of this kind of mono-disperse magnetorheological gel, such as the shear storage modulus and yield stress, cannot meet the needs of practical engineering application. In this study, a systematic experiment was investigated on the use of dendritic carbonyl iron particles to enhance the comprehensive performance in conventional (microsphere-based) magnetorheological gels formulated in polyurethane matrix. Two kinds of carbonyl iron particles that have very similar magnetic properties but very different morphologies (one is spherical and the other is dendritic) are employed. The dimorphic magnetorheological gels were prepared by adding dendritic carbonyl iron particles into the conventional spherical carbonyl iron particle–based magnetorheological gel and a series of dimorphic magnetorheological gel samples were prepared. The magnetorheological properties of those samples, both under oscillatory and rotational shear rheometry, were systematically tested. It was found that the dendritic carbonyl iron particle additives can significantly improve the shear storage modulus and response time of the dimorphic magnetorheological gels compared with conventional magnetorheological gels. Meanwhile, when the mass ratio of dendritic particles to carbonyl iron particles is 25% and 50%, the shear stress, static shear yield stress, and dynamic shear yield stress of dimorphic magnetorheological gels can also be greatly enhanced.