Magnetorheological properties of novel magnetorheological elastomers featuring tilted particle chains under quasi-static shear loading

Abstract Novel anisotropic magnetorheological elastomers (MREs) with varying particle chain angles were fabricated, and their quasi-static shear MR properties were characterized using a double-lap shear device integrated into a custom-designed electromagnet. The results suggested that under a given magnetic field, both the actuation stress and shear modulus induced by magnetic field initially increased and then decreased with increasing particle chain angle, reaching peak values at 15° and 30°, respectively. When subjected to a magnetic field of 0.25 T, the magneto-induced shear modulus of novel anisotropic MRE with a particle chain angle of 15° showed a significant increase of 65.78% compared to that of conventional anisotropic MRE. And a modified magnetic dipole model was introduced for analyzing the influence of particle chain angle on magneto-induced shear modulus. Furthermore, the experimental data showed that the MREs with tilted particle chains exhibited asymmetric mechanical responses under different shear directions. Thus, a novel type of MRE featuring network-structured particle chains was developed, effectively eliminating initial magneto-induced actuation stress and mechanical asymmetry, while enhancing the MR effect.