Nonmagnetic particles enhance magnetoelastic response of magnetic elastomers

Abstract

The elastic modulus for bimodal magnetic elastomers has been investigated by compression measurements under large deformation. The bimodal magnetic elastomers consist of carbonyl iron magnetic particles and zinc oxide nonmagnetic particles. The Young's modulus for monomodal magnetic elastomers was 8.94 × 104 Pa at 0 mT and 1.65 × 105 Pa at 320 mT, respectively. The relative change in the Young's modulus for monomodal magnetic elastomer was 1.8, and it was raised to 5.8 only by mixing with the nonmagnetic particles of 9.6 vol. %. It is considered that the modulus enhancement originates from the stress transfer by the additional chains of magnetic particles via nonmagnetic particles. The electric resistivity analysis revealed that 27% of magnetic particles in a strand of chains were replaced by nonmagnetic particles. It was shown in the present study that the bimodal magnetic elastomers endured against a compression load of 30 N.