Tunable friction performance of magneto-rheological elastomer induced by external magnetic field

Abstract

In order to investigate the magnetic-induced friction properties of magneto-rheological elastomers, isotropic and anisotropic magneto-rheological elastomers are fabricated, tribological testing setup is built, and the friction experiment is carried out. The experimental results show that the isotropic magneto-rheological elastomer has a decreasing friction coefficient with magnetic field applied, which is also affected by particle volume fraction. The influence of magnetic field on friction coefficient of the anisotropic magneto-rheological elastomers is not monotonic. The experimental results also show that the friction coefficient of magneto-rheological elastomers decreases with the increase in load for both isotropic and anisotropic magneto-rheological elastomers in most circumstances. The volume fraction of carbonyl iron powders being around 10% is the best for magneto-rheological elastomers in tuning friction. The tunable range of friction could be as high as 25% under a magnetic field of 0.25 T. Images of the magneto-rheological elastomer interfaces show that the surface roughness is reduced by about 20.7% when a magnetic field of 0.5 T is applied. The aggregation phenomenon is observed on the surface of the magneto-rheological elastomer under a magnetic field. On the basis of three-dimensional surface topography, a preliminary model for the aggregation of micro asperities on the surface of the magneto-rheological elastomer is built to interpret the influence of the magnetic field on the tribological properties of magneto-rheological elastomers.

Keywords

Tribology magneto-rheological elastomer magnetic field roughness aggregation phenomenon experiment

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