Magnetorheological elastomers (MRE) are mainly composed of soft magnetic particles and rubber-like matrix. Previous studies have shown that the matrix has a greater impact on mechanical properties of MRE. In this article, a new kind of polyurethane material was fabricated and used as the matrix of MRE. The effect of several factors on the mechanical properties of MRE samples was experimentally studied, such as fabrication condition, content of iron particles, different weight ratio of castor oil and diphenylmethane diisocyanate, plasticizer. Their microstructures were observed, and the mechanical properties were measured using a testing system in the presence of an external magnetic field. The experimental results demonstrate that these factors have different impact on shear storage modulus, magneto-induced modulus, MR effect and damping property. In addition, the damping property of these MRE is also higher than that of MRE based on the other matrix. This study can hopefully be applied to optimize the mechanical properties of MRE. POLYM. COMPOS., 00:000-000, 2014.