Rheological properties of dimorphic magnetorheological gels mixed dendritic carbonyl iron powder

Magnetorheological gels typically are colloids of spherical micrometer magnetic particles dispersed in a high-viscosity polymer matrix. However, some major parameters of this kind of mono-disperse magnetorheological gel, such as the shear storage modulus and yield stress, cannot meet the needs of practical engineering application. In this study, a systematic experiment was investigated on the use of dendritic carbonyl iron particles to enhance the comprehensive performance in conventional (microsphere-based) magnetorheological gels formulated in polyurethane matrix. Two kinds of carbonyl iron particles that have very similar magnetic properties but very different morphologies (one is spherical and the other is dendritic) are employed. The dimorphic magnetorheological gels were prepared by adding dendritic carbonyl iron particles into the conventional spherical carbonyl iron particle-based magnetorheological gel and a series of dimorphic magnetorheological gel samples were prepared. The magnetorheological properties of those samples, both under oscillatory and rotational shear rheometry, were systematically tested. It was found that the dendritic carbonyl iron particle additives can significantly improve the shear storage modulus and response time of the dimorphic magnetorheological gels compared with conventional magnetorheological gels. Meanwhile, when the mass ratio of dendritic particles to carbonyl iron particles is 25% and 50%, the shear stress, static shear yield stress, and dynamic shear yield stress of dimorphic magnetorheological gels can also be greatly enhanced.