Fabrication and characterisation of patterned magnetorheological elastomers

Magnetorheological elastomers (MREs) are composites that highly elastic polymer matrices are filled with magnetic particles. These materials exhibit unique characteristics that their modului can be controlled by an external magnetic field. This paper presents analysis, fabrication and characterization of novel patterned MREs. By taking into account the local magnetic field in MREs and particles' interaction magnetic energy, the magnetic field-dependent mechanical properties of MREs with lattice and BCC structures were theoretically analyzed and numerically simulated. Soft magnetic particles were assembled in polydimethylsioxane matrix to fabricate new MREs with uniformly lattice and BCC structures, which were observed by microscope. The field-dependent modulus of the new MREs was characterized by a parallel-plate rheometer. The experimental results agreed well with numerical simulations. © 2013 AIP Publishing LLC.