Hysteresis behaviour of different magnetorheological elastomer models: Modelling and simulation

Abstract

Smart materials are materials by which their properties can be altered due to external stimuli such as temperature, pressure, and magnetic field. Magnetorheological Elastomer (MRE) is a type of smart composite material consisting of a polymer matrix embedded with ferromagnetic particles. In the presence of an external magnetic field, its mechanical properties such as stiffness change due to the interaction between the magnetic particles. Vibration isolation has been of interest to researchers for decades. In this work, simulation studies were done by utilizing different MRE models from the literature such Bignham, Bouc-Wen, Modified Bouc-Wen, Dahl and Hysteresis models on a base motion isolation (base excitation) system in order to understand the characteristics of MRE. Results showed that as the magnetic field increases, the stiffness of MRE increases significantly. Shifting in the natural frequency of the system from the transmissibility curve was observed for all models which lead to vibration isolation.