Preparation and Properties of Magnetorheological Elastomers Based on Silicon Rubber/Polystyrene Blend Matrix

Magnetorheological (MR) elastomers, which are mainly composed of magnetic particles and elastic poly- mer, are a new kind of smart materials whose modulus can be controlled by changing the strength of magnetic fields. In this article, MR elastomers based on immiscible silicon rubber/polystyrene (SR/PS) blend matrix were fab- ricated successfully via cosolvent method and the MR effect, electric and mechanical properties, and the micro- structures of the corresponding materials were studied. SEM studies showed that the dispersion of iron particles in blend matrix were different from that in single polymer, which could be further proved by the different electric conductivity. The MR effect of MR elastomers based on blend matrix varied with the different ratios of SR and PS, which was discussed in detail from the special dispersion of iron particles and of zero-modulus of MR elastomers. In addition, the MR elastomers based on SR/PS blend matrix had enhanced mechanical properties, which made them more hopeful to be applied in practice. 2006 Wiley Period-

[1]  Mattias Lokander,et al.  Improving the magnetorheological effect in isotropic magnetorheological rubber materials , 2003 .

[2]  Dajun Chen,et al.  Percolation threshold and morphology of composites of conducting carbon black/polypropylene/EVA , 2004 .

[3]  G. Heppler,et al.  Experimental Research and Modeling of Magnetorheological Elastomers , 2004 .

[4]  Toshio Kurauchi,et al.  Magnetroviscoelastic behavior of composite gels , 1995 .

[5]  Jiaqiu Wang,et al.  Synthesis of composites of silicon rubber and polystyrene using supercritical CO2 as a swelling agent , 2002 .

[6]  V. A. Kuz'min,et al.  Viscoelastic Properties of Magnetorheological Elastomers in the Regime of Dynamic Deformation , 2002 .

[7]  J. Gong,et al.  Magnetism and compressive modulus of magnetic fluid containing gels , 1999 .

[8]  Xinglong Gong,et al.  Fabrication and characterization of isotropic magnetorheological elastomers , 2005 .

[9]  John Matthew Ginder,et al.  Magnetorheological elastomers: properties and applications , 1999, Smart Structures.

[10]  Yuan Hu,et al.  New magnetorheological elastomers based on polyurethane/Si-rubber hybrid , 2005 .

[11]  Mark R. Jolly,et al.  The Magnetoviscoelastic Response of Elastomer Composites Consisting of Ferrous Particles Embedded in a Polymer Matrix , 1996 .

[12]  Y. Mamunya,et al.  Structure‐electrical properties relationships of polymer composites filled with Fe‐powder , 2003 .

[13]  Larry Dean Elie,et al.  Controllable-stiffness components based on magnetorheological elastomers , 2000, Smart Structures.

[14]  M. Narkis,et al.  Sensing of liquids by electrically conductive immiscible polypropylene/thermoplastic polyurethane blends containing carbon black , 2003 .