Editorial Type:
Article Category: Research Article
 | 
Online Publication Date: 25 May 2021

SYNERGISTIC MAGNETORHEOLOGICAL NR–NBR ELASTOMER BLEND WITH ELECTROLYTIC IRON PARTICLES

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Page Range: 642 – 656
DOI: 10.5254/rct.21.79977
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ABSTRACT

This article presents the development of a new kind of magnetorheological elastomer blend made with natural rubber, acrylonitrile–butadiene rubber (NR-NBR), and electrolytic iron particles through solution mixing. The compressive stress and elastic modulus of the composites in the isotropic and anisotropic states of the filler were studied. A unique study of the filler distribution and filler orientation mechanism was proposed from the compressive properties and scanning electron microscopy. A strong improvement in the elastic modulus of the NR–NBR blend from isotropic to anisotropic change was achieved as compared with NR and NBR in single-rubber composites. The filler content in the anisotropic magnetorheological elastomers was optimized by measuring the field-dependent elastic modulus in the presence of an externally applied magnetic field. The blend rubber composites showed better sensitivity in the presence of a magnetic field than the NR and NBR composites did. The improvement might be due to the better filler orientation and strong adhesion of filler particles by the NR phase in the blend matrix. The new elastomer blends may have applications in active dampers, vibrational absorption, and automotive bushings.

Copyright: 2021
Fig. 1.
Fig. 1.

SEM and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy of Electrolytic iron.


Fig. 2.
Fig. 2.

Mechanical properties of the isotropic specimens: compressive stress as a function of strain at increasing filler content from 0 to 150 phr: (a) NR, (b) NBR, and (c) NR-NBR blend, and (d) elastic modulus.


Fig. 3.
Fig. 3.

Optical microscopy images with a magnification 100×: (a) NR unfilled, (b) NBR unfilled, and (c) NR–NBR blend unfilled.


Fig. 4.
Fig. 4.

Variation of the compressive properties of isotropic samples with different filler loadings (0–150 phr) from actual to theoretically predicted in the NR–NBR blend rubber: (a) 0 phr, (b) 60 phr, (c) 100 phr, and (d) 150 phr.


Fig. 5.
Fig. 5.

Elastic modulus of 60 phr filler–loaded anisotropic rubber with increasing amplitude of the premagnetic field (0.5–2.0T).


Fig. 6.
Fig. 6.

SEM images at 60 phr filler–loaded anisotropic vulcanizates. The arrow represents the direction of alignment of filler particles: (a–b) NR, (c–d) NBR, and (e–f) NR–NBR blend.


Fig. 7.
Fig. 7.

Anisotropic effect on the permanent mechanical properties for the rubber vulcanizate filled with 60 phr electrolytic iron filler.


Fig. 8.
Fig. 8.

Change in modulus (anisotropic-isotropic) with deformation.


Fig. 9.
Fig. 9.

Magnetic sensitivity in the field-dependent elastic modulus in anisotropic vulcanizates in an externally applied magnetic field of 90 mT during testing: (a) magnetic sensitivity in absolute value, (b) relative sensitivity in percentage.


Fig. 10.
Fig. 10.

Mechanism of the filler orientation in the presence of a magnetic field.


Contributor Notes

Corresponding authors: T. J. Ko (tjko@yu.ac.kr), D. -J. Lee (djlee@yu.ac.kr) and J. Choi (jwc@yu.ac.kr)
Received: 01 Mar 2020
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