ISOTROPIC AND ANISOTROPIC POLARIZATIONS OF MAGNETORHEOLOGICAL ELASTOMER

Abstract

The purpose of this research is to investigate the effect of varying currents injected into the coil during the curing process of magnetorheological elastomer (MRE) fabrication. In preparing MRE material, two types of MRE can be developed based on the curing process method fabrication which is isotropic and anisotropic. In this study, an anisotropic MRE is fabricated. The process of anisotropic MRE material is performed by applying the input current to the MRE material during the curing process. Firstly, the simulation is conducted by using the finite element magnetic method (FEMM) to investigate the magnetic field intensity. The magnetic field intensity is evaluated by varying the MRE parameters such as the number of coils turns, coil bobbin, the diameter of coil and input current applied to the coil. Then, the parameters are used for the MRE material fabrication process in preparing the optimum performance of anisotropic MRE. In this study, the three MRE designs are developed. The two designs of MRE are developed for anisotropic types and another one for isotropic type. The isotropic types are developed for comparing their capability performance to absorb the impact energy. To test the performance between anisotropic and isotropic, an impact test rig is used. The performance of anisotropic MRE is evaluated by comparing each input current applied to the MRE coil in the form of force-time characteristics.