Structural FTIR analysis and thermal characterisation of lyocell and viscose-type fibres

During the last few decades, magnetorheological (MR) elastomers have attracted a significant amount of attention for their enormous potential in engineering applications. Because they are a solid counterpart to MR fluids, MR elastomers exhibit a unique field-dependent material property when exposed to a magnetic field, and they overcome major issues faced in magnetorheological fluids, e.g. the deposition of iron particles, sealing problems and environmental contamination. Such advantages offer great potential for designing intelligent devices to be used in various engineering fields, especially in fields that involve vibration reduction and isolation. This paper presents a state of the art review on the recent progress of MR elastomer technology, with special emphasis on the research and development of MR elastomer devices and their applications. To keep the integrity of the knowledge, this review includes a brief introduction of MR elastomer materials and follows with a discussion of critical issues involved in designing magnetorheological elastomer devices, i.e. operation modes, coil placements and principle fundamentals. A comprehensive review has been presented on the research and development of MR elastomer devices, including vibration absorbers, vibration isolators, base isolators, sensing devices, and so on. A summary of the research on the modeling mechanical behavior for both the material and the devices is presented. Finally, the challenges and the potential facing magnetorheological elastomer technology are discussed, and suggestions have been made based on the authors’ knowledge and experience.

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A state-of-the-art review on magnetorheological elastomer devices

Waste tire rubber constitute a serious worldwide problem due to the lack of landfills and the health hazards associated with these landfills. In addition to the environmental motivation for providing a means of recycling large quantities of waste tire rubbers, the use of tire rubber particles provides a new type of concrete that has unique mechanical and fracture criteria. This paper presents the results of recent experimental investigations on rubber concrete. Chipped and crumbed tire rubber particles were used to replace coarse and fine aggregate with different volume replacement levels. The mechanical and fracture properties of rubber concrete were examined. Quasi-brittle fracture mechanics models are used to determine the effect of incorporating tire rubber particles on the fracture performance of rubber concrete. Finally, some microstructural features of rubber concrete are also reported. It is concluded that the choice of the optimal replacement ratio of the tire rubber particles can yield concretes with desirable strength and fracture toughness criteria for different applications.

Mechanical, Fracture, and Microstructural Investigations of Rubber Concrete

Magnetorheological (MR) materials are classified as smart materials due to their responsiveness to external magnetic stimuli. Intensive research on MR materials has led to broad applications in several potential fields. A solid carrier matrix state called MR elastomer with its exceptional magnetic responsive feature is obtained by merging magnetizable particles within an elastomeric polymer. This integration results in outstanding characteristics on the rheological performances. Special prominence is given to the understanding of the base materials and fabrication as well as the functional behavior through various characterization methods. Broad applications of MREs are also explored to provide a profound market picture and to motivate researchers to develop novel technology. The functional behavior of MREs is briefly explained. The art of the materials provides the current position and mapping of the matrix and filler particles. Types of matrix and particles are mentioned together with the level of the research interest on MREs. Description of the fabrication is provided in simple diagrams as summarized from previous works to enhance the MREs performance. The possible tests to reveal the characteristics of the MREs are delivered with the global experimental setup. The review also explains the applications of MREs as well as discussion on the MREs future promising applications.

Recent Progress on Magnetorheological Solids: Materials, Fabrication, Testing, and Applications†

Soft materials that can undergo rapid and large deformation through the remote and wireless action of external stimuli offer a range of tantalizing applications such as soft robots, flexible electronics, and biomedical devices. A natural and simple embodiment of such materials is to embed magnetic particles in soft polymers. Unfortunately, existing magnetically responsive soft materials such as magnetorheological elastomers and ferrogels typically use magnetically-soft particles such as iron and iron oxides, which are characterized by the low coercivity and hence lack the capability to retain remnant magnetism. Accordingly, their deformation is limited to simple elongation or shortening, rendering these materials substantially unsuited for the complex transformations required in many applications. To introduce shape-programmability, magnetically-hard particles with high coercivity have been incorporated in mechanically soft materials. In addition, recent works aimed at ameliorating this situation have developed fabrication techniques and facile routes to engineer rapid and complex transformations in a programmable manner by introducing intricate patterns of magnetic polarities in soft materials. The resulting structures, when properly designed, have been shown to exhibit a diverse and rich array of actuation behavior. In this work, we develop a suitable theoretical framework to analyze these so-called hard-magnetic soft materials to facilitate the rational design of magnetically activated functional structures and devices based on a quantitative prediction of complex shape changes. We adopt a nonlinear field theory to describe the finite deformation coupled with magnetic fields and argue that the macroscopic behavior of the fabricated materials requires a new constitutive classification — ideal hard-magnetic soft material — which assumes that (i) the material has a residual magnetic flux density, and (ii) the induced magnetic flux density exhibits a linear relation with the applied actuating magnetic field. We implement the theory and constitutive law in a finite-element framework and find remarkable agreement between the simulation and experimental results on various deformation modes of hard-magnetic soft materials. Using the developed (and validated) model, we present a set of illustrative examples to highlight the use of our model-based simulation to guide the design of experimentally realizable complex shape-morphing structures based on hard-magnetic soft materials.

Mechanics of hard-magnetic soft materials

Preparation and characterization of microcapsule-containing self-healing asphalt

This article introduces a new type of concrete, the so-called rubber concrete, and thereupon presents a way of modification of waste rubber to construction articles. The conventional cement concrete is made by mixing cement with sand and pebbles, but the rubber concrete proposed here virtually excludes cement completely. The manufacturing process of rubber concrete can be divided into two methods, which are designated for dry and wet processes, but this article focused just on the dry process. The physical properties of rubber composite increased with the silane treatment of added aggregates, but the volume of the aggregate might not be a critical factor affecting the compressive strength in the range of the aggregate contents used in this study, that is, the interfacial adhesion between the matrix rubber and the aggregates was a key factor to improve the mechanical properties of rubber concrete. The compressive strength of rubber concrete was about 89 MPa and the Poisson's ratio, which is the ratio of compressive-to-tensile strength, was 5.5%. From the viewpoint of the compressive strength and the Poisson's ratio, rubber concrete had better properties than those of conventional cement concrete. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 72: 35–40, 1999

Introductory behavior of rubber concrete

A differential mount with elastomers is installed to insulate vibration transmitted from the engine to the body through the propeller shaft. Since existing differential mounts adopt an elastomer of uniform stiffness, it is difficult to meet both the requirements for steering performance and driving comfort at the same time. In order to overcome this limitation, this study suggests a magnetorheological elastomer (MRE)-based stiffness-variable differential mount which allows the mount’s stiffness to vary reversibly or instantly. The stiffness-variable differential mount was designed with a new inner structure where a magnetic field can be induced in the MRE. Further, the geometry of the MRE was optimized by means of the response surface method to achieve a targeted level of stiffness. The variable performance of the stiffness-variable differential mount was evaluated with the dynamic stiffness when a current of 3 A (0.287 T) was applied. As a result, it was found that the average increase in dynamic stiffness was 4.41 kgf mm−1 over an excitation frequency range of 60–100 Hz, a critical point of variation for dynamic stiffness, and 3.60 kgf mm−1 over an excitation frequency range of less than 100 Hz.

http://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/0964-1726/22/11/115007/pdf

Magnetorheological elastomer with stiffness-variable characteristics based on induced current applied to differential mount of vehicles

Magnetorheological elastomers (MREs) are intelligent materials, which are widely used as dampers to eliminate vibration. In this study, a new kind of MREs was designed using carbonyl iron particles (CIPs), carbon black (CB) and self-crosslinking blends, which were fabricated by reacting polychloroprene rubber with epoxidized natural rubber (CR/ENR blends). The interaction mechanism among CIPs, CB and a matrix in the fabrication process was discussed in detail. The morphology of isotropic MREs (i-MREs) and anisotropic MREs (a-MREs) was observed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The effect of CIP volume content on the mechanical properties of MREs was investigated. The effect of CIP volume content on the shear storage modulus, MR effect and loss factor was studied using a modified dynamic mechanical analyzer (DMA). The results revealed that the chain-like distribution of CIPs became more pronounced with increasing CIP content in a-MREs, whereas CIPs distributed uniformly in i-MREs. CIPs and CB bonded well with the rubber matrix as a result of their surface attraction effect to CR and ENR molecular chains. Therefore, MREs had excellent mechanical properties. The promoting effect of CB and CIPs on the self-crosslinking reaction was verified by crosslink density assessment. The shear storage modulus of MREs increased with the increase of CIP content, and the MR effect of i-MREs remarkably increased, while a-MREs decreased due to the obvious increase in initial storage modulus with increasing CIP content. The loss factor of MREs decreased obviously with the increase of CIP content.

https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/0964-1726/24/9/095006/pdf

Fabrication and properties of magnetorheological elastomers based on CR/ENR self-crosslinking blends

Since silica has strong filler–filler interactions and adsorbs polar materials, a silica-filled rubber compound wil have poor dispersion of the filler and a poor cure characteristic. Improvement of properties of silica-filled styrene-butadiene rubber (SBR) compounds has been studied using emulsion SBR-based acrylonitrile-styrene-butadiene rubber (NSBR). The silica dispersion is improved by adding NSBR to the compound. The bound rubber content increases with increase in the NSBR content. The scorch time and cure rate become faster as the NSBR content increases. The crosslink density also increases by increasing the NSBR content. The wear property is improved by adding the NSBR. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Kyung-Ho Chung

Papers

Preparation and characterization of microcapsule-containing self-healing asphalt

Introductory behavior of rubber concrete

Magnetorheological elastomer with stiffness-variable characteristics based on induced current applied to differential mount of vehicles

Fabrication and properties of magnetorheological elastomers based on CR/ENR self-crosslinking blends

Improvement of properties of silica‐filled styrene‐butadiene rubber (SBR) compounds using acrylonitrile‐styrene‐butadiene rubber (NSBR)