Investigate the effect of the magnetic field on the mechanical properties of silicone rubber-based anisotropic magnetorheological elastomer during curing process

Abstract

In this investigation, a new silicone rubber-based MRE material was prepared to be used as a forming medium in manufacturing thin-walled complex-shaped Ni-based tubes through the bulging process. Thus, it is significant to investigate the effect of magnetic field intensity, magnetic field loading time, and angle on the mechanical properties of the prepared MRE material during the curing process. The obtained results showed that increasing the magnetic field intensity during the curing process can improve the orientation of the chain structure in the elastomer matrix effectively. However, its mechanical properties are the best under the corresponding magnetic field intensity of 321 mT. Besides, by extending the magnetic field loading time in the curing process, the orientation of the chain structure was optimized, at the same time, the mechanical properties were also improved, and the best loading time is about 20–25 min. By changing the loading angle of the magnetic field during the curing process, the mechanical properties of the MRE were improved. When the loading angle of the magnetic field is 90°, the elastomer showed the best compression mechanical properties and excellent compression reversibility. Besides, for the anisotropic MRE material, the performance with magnetic compression is always better than that without magnetic compression.