Peoples Republic of China

Magnetorheological (MR) elastomers are a group of smart materials whose modulus can be controlled by the appli-cation of an external magnetic field. In this paper, MR elastomers based on isobutylene–isoprene rubber were prepared by the commonmanufacturing procedure of rub-ber and the corresponding MR effect, mechanical proper-ties, and thermal stability were investigated. The results showed that MR effect varied with the volume content of iron particles and a maximum of 20 % in MR effect was obtained at 15 vol % of iron particles. The relationship be-tween MR effect and microstructure was discussed in de-tail. Mechanical tests showed that iron particles could im-prove the tensile strength and hardness. However, compared with carbon black with the same volume con-tent, the reinforcing effect was far worse. TG analysis showed the thermal stability of isobutylene–isoprene rub-ber was improved by incorporation of iron particles