Curing Studies of Magnetorheological Elastomers

Magnetorheological elastomers (MREs) consist of a crosslinked matrix and magnetic particles. Because of their advantage to control the viscoelastic properties by applying an external magnetic field, this class of smart materials is getting increasing interest in sensor and actuator applications. This magnetorheological effect depends mainly on the stiffness of the matrix, the content, orientation, type and size distribution of the magnetic particles.

This paper focuses on the curing properties of polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) with varying carbonyl iron content. Additionaly influence of curing temperature and ratio of base polymer to initiator were studied. The curing behavior was determined with the help of a rubber process analyzer (Scarabaeus SIS V50).

This work was supported by funds of European Union and the Free State of Saxony.