The actuation behavior of soft silicone-based magnetorheological elastomers in magnetic fields of variable strength was investigated. An inhomogeneous magnetic field gives rise to a reversible actuation effect, which is the result of the competition between magnetic and elastic forces in the material. Magnetorheological elastomers are capable of performing more pronounced deformations than known rigid actuator materials. In this article, the actuation behavior of magnetorheological elastomer ring-shaped bodies in a valve-type device for the control of an air flow is demonstrated. For this purpose, magnetorheological elastomer rings with different Shore hardness were prepared and used in the valve. In addition to the common isotropic magnetorheological elastomer samples, rings with an anisotropic arrangement of the magnetic particles were also prepared. The actuation of these anisotropic magnetorheological elastomers was compared with that of the isotropic samples. Based on simulations, the inhomogeneity of the magnetic field at the magnetorheological elastomer material which is required for the actuation could be strongly affected by the shape in the design of the magnetic yoke. In this study, the closing characteristics of the valve with different yoke shapes and magnetorheological elastomer materials were evaluated by measuring the dependence of the air flow rate on the magnetic field strength. It is demonstrated that the air flow through the valve can be controlled by the current in the field-generating coil, which yields the base for a new type of magnetic valve.

In this paper, the results of various investigations on the viscoelastic and magnetic properties of magnetorheological elastomers (MRE) in magnetic fields of variable strength, are reported. These characteristics have a strong influence on the behavior of MRE in various applications such as vibration damping and tunable vibration absorbers. Moreover, the actuation capabilities of MRE with different kinds of deformation in a magnetic field are considered. The degree of deformation depends on the magnetic field strength and its gradient and can reach about 10%. When removing the magnetic field, the MRE body relaxes back to its initial shape. MRE materials can be used for linear actuators, where the MRE body is deformed due to the attraction by a magnetic circuit acting from one side. Such linear actuators may be applied for haptic feedback and pumps. However, ring-shaped MRE bodies can also deform radially around their cylindrical axis, if the magnetic field is oriented correspondingly. This unusual type of deformation allows the realization of a proportional valve, whose opening is controlled by the magnetic field strength. Similar configurations can be used for controllable seals, for locking devices and even for inchworm drives. Various versions of this actuation principle are discussed in the paper.

No abstract

Novel concepts for the magnetic circuit in magnetorheological dampers have been proven. In contrast to the established magnetic circuits where the magnetic field for the control of the magnetorheological fluid is generated by the coil of an electromagnet, hybrid magnetic circuits consisting of at least one permanent or hard magnet and an electromagnet are used in the new approaches. Three different technical configurations are distinguished: (1) The electromagnet is combined with two permanent magnets, whose magnetization cannot be modified even by strong magnetic fields of the electromagnet. The main advantage is the improved fail-safe behavior of the damper in case of a power failure. (2) The electromagnet is combined with a hard magnet, whose magnetization can be modified by the electromagnet. This configuration leads to high energy efficiency, because electric power is only required in short pulses for the switching of the hard magnet. (3) All three types of magnetic field sources, permanent, hard, and electromagnet, are combined in the magnetic circuit, which gives the highest flexibility of the magnetic field generation and the damping control at the expense of a relatively large effort. Demonstrators for magnetorheological dampers with all three magnetic circuits were constructed and their performances were tested. The results of the investigations are described in this paper