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A highly adjustable magnetorheological elastomer base isolator for applications of real-time

adaptive control

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 Smart Materials and Structures

Smart Mater. Struct. 23 (2014) 129501 (1pp) doi:10.1088/0964-1726/23/12/129501

Corrigendum: A highly adjustable

magnetorheological elastomer base isolator
for applications of real-time adaptive control
(2013 Smart Mater. Struct. 22 095020)
Yancheng Li1, Jianchun Li1, Tongfei Tian2 and Weihua Li2
1
Centre for Built Infrastructure Research, School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Faculty of
Engineering and Information Technology, University of Technology Sydney, NSW 2007, Australia
2
School of Mechanical, Materials and Mechatronic Engineering, University of Wollongong, Wollongong,
NSW 2522, Australia

E-mail: yancheng.li@uts.edu.au

Accepted for publication 17 October 2014

Published 30 October 2014

An error occurred in page 6, left column, line 3: In this design, there are 24 layers of steel sheet with
thickness of 1 mm and 25 layers of MRE sheets with thick-
ness of 1 mm.

0964-1726/14/129501+01$33.00 1 © 2014 IOP Publishing Ltd Printed in the UK

IOP PUBLISHING SMART MATERIALS AND STRUCTURES
Smart Mater. Struct. 22 (2013) 095020 (18pp) doi:10.1088/0964-1726/22/9/095020

A highly adjustable magnetorheological

elastomer base isolator for applications of
real-time adaptive control
Yancheng Li1 , Jianchun Li1 , Tongfei Tian2 and Weihua Li2
1
Centre for Built Infrastructure Research, School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Faculty of
Engineering and Information Technology, University of Technology Sydney, NSW 2007, Australia
2
School of Mechanical, Materials and Mechatronic Engineering, University of Wollongong,
Wollongong, NSW 2522, Australia

E-mail: yancheng.li@uts.edu.au

Received 1 May 2013, in final form 15 July 2013

Published 29 August 2013
Online at stacks.iop.org/SMS/22/095020
Abstract
Inspired by its controllable and field-dependent stiffness/damping properties, there has been
increasing research and development of magnetorheological elastomer (MRE) for mitigation
of unwanted structural or machinery vibrations using MRE isolators or absorbers. Recently, a
breakthrough pilot research on the development of a highly innovative prototype adaptive
MRE base isolator, with the ability for real-time adaptive control of base isolated structures
against various types of earthquakes including near- or far-fault earthquakes, has been reported
by the authors. As a further effort to improve the proposed MRE adaptive base isolator and to
address some of the shortcomings and challenges, this paper presents systematic investigations
on the development of a new highly adjustable MRE base isolator, including experimental
testing and characterization of the new isolator. A soft MR elastomer has been designed,
fabricated and incorporated in the laminated structure of the new MRE base isolator, which
aims to obtain a highly adjustable shear modulus under a medium level of magnetic field.
Comprehensive static and dynamic testing was conducted on this new adaptive MRE base
isolator to examine its characteristics and evaluate its performance. The experimental results
show that this new MRE base isolator can remarkably change the lateral stiffness of the
isolator up to 1630% under a medium level of magnetic field. Such highly adjustable MRE
base isolator makes the design and implementation of truly real-time adaptive (e.g. semi-active
or smart passive) seismic isolation systems become feasible.
(Some figures may appear in colour only in the online journal)

1. Introduction
Base isolation, or seismic isolation, has been widely used in
the seismic protection of civil structures, such as buildings
and bridges, due to its proved effectiveness during earth-
quakes [1–3]. The principle of the base isolation system is to
isolate the destructive earthquake motions from transmitting
into the main structures, which would create danger or
damage to the contents and occupants therein, by installing
a horizontal soft base isolator beneath the main structures.
Detailed system configurations of the base isolation system
can be found in [4–7]. However, due to the passive nature
of the base isolators the current base isolation systems have
an intrinsic problem that has been widely acknowledged in
literature and reports [8–15], that is, a base isolation system,
which is quite effective against one earthquake, may well
be ineffective during another earthquake. Recent research
has revealed that the base isolation system is particularly
vulnerable during the near-fault [11–13] and far-fault earth-
quakes [14, 15]. Near-fault earthquakes, featuring a large dis-
placement and long-period pulse such as the 1994 Northridge
earthquake, lead to over-stretching of the base isolator to
exceed working range and result in malfunctioning of the
system [11–13]. For example, the ground motion in near-fault

0964-1726/13/095020+18$33.00 1 c 2013 IOP Publishing Ltd Printed in the UK & the USA


Smart Mater. Struct. 22 (2013) 095020
earthquakes may have one or more displacement pulses, with
peak velocities up to 0.5 m s−1 and duration in the range of
1–3 s, which will have a large impact on an isolation system
with a period in this range and can lead to a large isolator
displacement [11]. While far-fault earthquakes, featuring
low-frequency domination, may fall into the resonant region
of the conventional base isolation system, rather than helping
to reduce dynamic responses of the structure, they can amplify
destructive responses to the protected structures [14, 15].
Closely looking at current base isolation practice, most of the
seismic base isolated structures, either completed or still under
construction, mainly use laminated rubber bearings [1–3, 16],
including lead-core rubber bearings [17, 18] and high
damping rubber bearings [19]. Traditional isolation systems
with laminated rubber bearings, characterized by their passive
nature, use either low damping natural rubber or high damping
rubber to meet designated isolation performance requirements
based on the characteristics of earthquakes and structures
as well as geological conditions [1–3, 17]. Therefore once
the base isolation system has been designed and installed, it
cannot cope with changes in the characteristics of earthquakes
or of structures [8, 9].
To overcome this challenge, various solutions have been
proposed, including hybrid supplementary damping and other
hybrid isolation systems [20–24]. In recent decades, such
hybrid base isolation systems have been widely investigated
for their feasibility to add adaptability to improve the
traditional base isolation system. Besides the passive–passive
hybrid isolation system, hybrid systems with semi-active or
active energy dissipation devices (also called smart base
isolation systems), such as variable friction dampers [21] and
magnetorheological dampers [23, 24], have also been popular
choices for gaining effective control in addition to preserving
the integrity of the base isolators in extreme events. However,
additional damping, whether passive, semi-active or active, is
only effective in suppressing the free vibration components
of responses of civil structures by dissipating energy induced
by the earthquake. It does not change the fundamental natural
frequency of the structure nor change the isolation frequency
of the base isolators to deflect seismic energy at a different
frequency. Also, excessive damping causes the transmission
of acceleration in higher mode into the superstructure and is
therefore dangerous for contents (i.e. sensitive equipment) in
the structures. Moreover, hybrid base isolation systems are
complex to implement, which may affect their cost, reliability
and sustainability. It is therefore highly desirable for the
lateral stiffness of the base isolation system, i.e. the elastic
shear property of the base isolator, to be controlled in a
real-time manner thus instantly decoupling incoming external
excitations (such as earthquakes) at any dominant frequency
range from the structures and contents to be protected.
To this end, the authors have successfully introduced
a smart material, the field-dependent magnetorheological
elastomer (MRE or MR elastomer), into the design of a world-
first adaptive laminated base isolator prototype [25–27]. MR
elastomer is a relatively new addition in the MR material
family, whose shear modulus and damping can be changed
by a magnetic field in real-time [28, 29]. It is normally a
2
Y Li et al
compound material with polarizable particles suspended in a
non-magnetic solid or gel-like matrix, which is mixed with
silicone rubber and silicone oil. Typically, during the process
of curing a magnetic field is applied to the mixture so that the
chain-like structure can be formed and fixed in the matrix after
the curing. When the process is completed, MRE is similar to
a soft rubber with the absence of magnetic field. However,
under magnetic field, the elastic modulus of MREs can be
increased greatly depending on the strength of the magnetic
field and the designed property of the MRE [30].
Attracted by the unique properties and advantages
of MREs, researchers from different engineering fields,
particularly in the field of mechanical engineering, have
devoted effort to develop new MRE vibration isolators for the
control and mitigation of vibrations [31–33]. In the authors’
previous research [25–27], a laminated structure of MRE
layers and steel sheets was used mimicking the classical
design of the rubber bearings which are used in the base
isolation of civil engineering structures. MREs with 100%
shear modulus increase under 0.7 T were used in the design.
Experimental results showed that the proposed adaptive base
isolator could successfully alter the lateral stiffness and force
in real-time up to 37% and 45%, respectively.
However, to enable an adaptive base isolator to adaptively
work for various earthquakes as it is designed to do, a large
range of stiffness increase under applied magnetic field (i.e.
MR effect) is necessary. To this end, it is critical to explore a
highly adjustable MR effect solution for MRE base isolator
design to provide maximum adaptable range for control
implementation to achieve adaptive base isolation. In previous
research [25–27], although the innovative magnetic circuit
design enabled 0.33 T magnetic strength in the MRE layer of
the prototype device, the stiffness increase of the MRE base
isolator was limited due to the material property of the MRE
used and defects in the isolator manufacture.
In this paper, we explore the feasibility of a high MR
effect for the MR base isolator design, incorporating a new
MRE material and improving the manufacturing process.
The soft MRE material is adopted in the new base isolator
design and utilized in a classical laminated rubber bearing
structure. A new highly adjustable adaptive base isolator is
then designed and fabricated. Comprehensive characterization
testing of the new adaptive base isolator was conducted at the
Structure Laboratory in University of Technology Sydney, to
evaluate the performance of the new MRE base isolator and
to provide data for modeling. Experimental results confirmed
that the prototype of the new highly adjustable adaptive base
isolator can achieve an amazing stiffness increase of 1630%
under applied magnetic field.
2. Soft magnetorheological elastomer
2.1. Brief review of the MRE material development
Conventional MREs consist of three components, namely
polarized particles, matrix and additives [34]. Spherical
carbonyl iron particles are usually used as the polarized
particles whose particle size is a few microns. Carbonyl iron
Smart Mater. Struct. 22 (2013) 095020
particle is used because it has one of the highest saturation
magnetization values of metallic elements. High permeability
and low remnant magnetization are also features of carbonyl
iron particles. A low remnant magnetization is recommended
because highly remnant particles stick together when the
magnetic field is turned off [35]. The conventional matrices
of MREs are usually natural rubber or silicone rubber.
Natural rubber is an elastomer, or an elastic hydrocarbon
polymer, originally derived from a milky colloidal suspension
or latex, found in the sap of some plants. The purified
form of natural rubber is the chemical polyisoprene which
can also be produced synthetically. Silicone rubber is a
rubber-like material composed of silicone together with
carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen. During manufacturing, heat
is required to vulcanize the silicone into its rubber-like
form [36]. Silicone rubber offers good resistance to extreme
temperatures, being able to operate well from −55 to
+300 ◦ C. At the extreme temperatures, the tensile strength,
elongation, tear strength and compression set can be far
superior to conventional rubbers although still low relative
to other materials [37]. Silicone oil is usually used as an
additive in MRE material development. When the molecules
of silicone oil enter into the matrix, the gaps between the
matrix molecules are increased and the conglutination of
molecules is decreased. Apart from increasing the plasticity
and fluidity of the matrix, the additives can average the
distribution of internal stress in the materials, which makes
them ideal for fabricating MRE materials [38].
In MREs, carbonyl iron particles with size of 3–5 µm
usually provide 5%–500% magnetorheological (MR) effect,
which is the ratio of modulus increase 1G to the initial
storage modulus G0 , from zero field to magnetic field with
flux density of 440 mT [39]. Increasing the volume fraction
is a conventional method to get a bigger MR effect. In the
study by Gong et al [40], an MRE sample with 70 wt%
carbonyl iron particles produced 51% MR effect while the
MR effect was only 3% for MRE with 20 wt% carbonyl
iron particles. Using bigger iron particles is another way to
increase the MR effect. Bose and Roder [41] revealed that
large iron particles affected the crosslinking of the silicone
and reduced elasticity of the composites. Thus, the MREs with
large iron particles (40 µm) have around 20 times increase
in the MR effect compared with those with normal-sized
iron particles with the MR effect varying from 0.05 to 5
times [28–40]. The MRE matrix can also be altered to increase
the MR effect. Shen et al [42] examined the use of nature
rubber and polyurethane as matrices of MRE, and results
indicated that an MR elastomer made of polyurethane sealant
produces better MR effect (150%) than an MR elastomer
made of natural rubber (20% MR effect). Wang et al [43] used
silane coupling agents aminopropyltriethoxysilane (KH-550)
and vinyltriethoxysilane (AH-151) to deal with methyl vinyl
gum (MVQ) 110-2 silicone rubber. Their results showed that
AH-151 improves the MR effect to 40% at 600 mT and the
MRE sample with lower initial storage modulus (G0 ) had
a bigger MR effect. It was suggested by their study that a
soft matrix can help to produce MRE with great MR effect.
In conclusion, it is feasible to maximize MR effect of MRE
3
Y Li et al
through optimal design. As the objective of this research is
to explore maximum MR effect to create a highly adjustable
adaptive base isolator, we develop a MRE material with high
MR effect using soft silicone rubber matrix and normal size
carbonyl iron particles.
2.2. Material preparation
The materials used for the soft magnetorheological elastomers
(MREs) in this investigation are: silicone rubber (Selleys Pty.
Ltd), silicone oil, type 378364 (Sigma-Aldrich Pty. Ltd) and
carbonyl iron particles, type C3518 (Sigma-Aldrich Pty. Ltd).
The density of silicone rubber, silicone oil and carbonyl iron
particles are 1.04 g cm−3 , 0.96 g ml−1 and 7.86 g cm−3 ,
respectively. The iron particle diameter is between 3 and
5 µm. To produce MR elastomer, 15 g silicone oil was
introduced to 15 g silicone rubber in a beaker and stirred
for 15 min. 70 g carbonyl iron particles were then added
to the mixture and stirred for another 30 min until all the
components were evenly dispersed. A vacuum chamber was
used to eliminate the air bubbles for 1 h and then the mixture
was placed in a mold of 1 mm thickness. During the curing,
no magnetic field was applied. After curing for 5 days, the
isotropic soft MREs were taken out of the mold and were
ready for use. The sample’s volume fraction is 22.9%.
2.3. Material testing
A rotational rheometer, type MCR 301 (Anton Paar
GmbH, Germany), a magnetorheological device, type MRD
180 (Anton Paar GmbH, Germany) and a temperature
controlling device, type Viscotherm VT2 (Anton Paar GmbH,
Germany) were used to measure the MREs’ mechanical
properties. The magnetorheological device is equipped with
an electromagnetic kit which can generate a magnetic field
perpendicular to the direction of the shear flow. A measuring
system of 20 mm diameter parallel plates (with 1 mm gap
between) was used. The samples were sandwiched between a
rotary disk and a base in parallel with the disk at 20 ◦ C.
2.4. Experimental results
It is worth pointing out that while the electromagnetic kit
in the rheometer (type MCR 301) is generating magnetic
field it also produces thermal impact to the specimen. Within
440 mT, the heat generated by the electromagnetic kit can
be absorbed by the temperature controlling device. However,
above 440 mT, the temperature controlling device can no
longer effectively absorb the heat from the electromagnetic kit
resulting in temperature increase in the testing specimen. The
increasing temperature will soften the MRE specimen in test
and produces unreliable test results. Therefore, in the material
property test, the applied magnetic field density needs to be
controlled within 440 mT. In this research this was selected as
0, 110, 220, 330 and 440 mT.
In the steady-state test, the applied strain on the MRE
samples has a large variation range from a very small strain
(around 0.01%) to large strain (300%). The MR effect was
Smart Mater. Struct. 22 (2013) 095020
Figure 1. Shear stress versus strain curve in steady state test.
Figure 2. Typical laminated rubber bearing/isolator.
evaluated by measuring the shear stress–strain curve of the
samples with and without an applied magnetic field. Figure 1
shows a typical shear stress–strain relationship of the sample
under five magnetic flux densities ranging from 0 to 440 mT.
In the shear stress–strain curve, the slope of the linear part
of the curve indicates the shear modulus of the material. The
shear modulus of the soft MRE material with zero magnetic
field was measured as 4.73 kPa, but after the magnetic field
flux density reaches 440 mT, the shear modulus increased to
62.04 kPa. Therefore, the MR effect of this material in terms
of increase of the shear modulus is more than 1300%. As can
be seen in figure 1, the shear modulus of the new MRE clearly
exhibits an increasing trend with applied magnetic field.
Before reaching yield points, the shear stress and shear strain
show a linear relationship where the MRE acts as a linear
viscoelastic material. Each applied magnetic field corresponds
to different yield strain values. When field intensity increases
from 0 to 440 mT, the yield strain of the sample decreases
from 220% to around 30%. It is also observed that the shear
Figure 5. MRE base isolator during testing and the equipment (power conditioner and slider).
4
Y Li et al
Figure 3. Cross-section of the MRE base isolator.
Figure 4. Schematic illustration of the experimental setup.
yield stress of the MRE increases from 9.95 to 27.09 kPa
when the field density increases from 0 to 440 mT. When the
strain of the MRE material is beyond the yield limit, the shear
modulus of the MRE material will quickly decrease to zero
and exhibits a typical perfect plastic behavior.
In summary, the MR effect of the new soft MRE can
result in a 13-fold increase in shear modulus when the
applied the magnetic field varies from zero to 440 mT. This
result is far higher than any reported for conventional MREs
[39, 40, 42, 43]. In the following section, the new soft MRE is
incorporated into the design to fully utilize this amazing MR
effect for the development of a highly adjustable adaptive base
isolator.
3. Design of adaptive MRE base isolator
The laminated structure of traditional base isolators consists
of two thick steel endplates and a number of sandwiched thin
steel and rubber layers, as shown in figure 2. The rubber is
vulcanized and bonded to the steel in a single operation under
heat and pressure in a mold. The thin steel and rubber layers
Smart Mater. Struct. 22 (2013) 095020 Y Li et al

Figure 6. Force responses of the MRE base isolator at sinusoidal loading with 1 = 2 mm and f = 1.0 Hz.

Figure 7. Force–displacement relationships of the MRE base isolator at quasi-static testing with frequency of 0.1 Hz (1 = 2, 4 and 8 mm).

prevent bulging of the rubber and therefore provide a high
vertical stiffness without compromising the lateral stiffness of
the isolators, which is dominated by the shear modulus of the
rubber. The advantages of the laminated rubber bearing are
ease of manufacture, ease of modeling and lower sensitivity
to rate, temperature and aging.
To overcome the drawbacks of the traditional base
isolator caused by its inherent passive nature and to produce
a new adaptive base isolator, the controllable rubber element,
MR elastomers, are incorporated into the base isolator design.
The configuration of the novel MRE base isolator, as shown
in figure 3, incorporates the laminated structural design of the

5
Smart Mater. Struct. 22 (2013) 095020
Figure 8. Force–displacement relationships of the MRE base isolator at quasi-static testing with frequency of 2.0 Hz (1 = 2, 4 and 8 mm).
traditional laminated rubber bearing [1–3, 16–19]. It consists
of multilayer thin MRE sheets bonded onto multilayer thin
steel plates. In this design, there are 26 layers of steel sheet
with thickness of 1 mm and 25 layers of MRE sheets with
thickness of 1 mm. The diameter of the MRE and steel sheets
is 120 mm.
In the design, the laminated bearing element is placed
inside a solenoid, which generates a uniform magnetic field
after it is energized with electric current [25–27]. The solenoid
is made of electromagnetic coil and thin non-magnetic support
as illustrated in figure 3. The cylindrical non-magnetic support
is made of epoxy material and has an inner diameter of
146 mm. The thickness of the thin wall is 2 mm. The
cylindrical electromagnetic coil has an inner diameter of
150 mm and an outer diameter of 200 mm. The coil is firmly
attached to the epoxy support. The diameter of the coil wire is
1.0 mm with a total winding number of 2900 turns. The wire
made of copper has electric resistance of 42.3 . The space
between the laminated MRE structure and the coil enables
the MRE isolator to have a maximum deformation of 15 mm,
equivalent to the maximum allowable shear strain of 60%.
The vertical load carrying capacity of the MRE isolator is
50 kg under the maximum designed shear displacement (i.e.
15 mm) and zero magnetic field. When the shear displacement
is less than 15 mm, the vertical loading capacity of the device
6
Y Li et al
will be greatly enhanced. As the loading capacity is a function
of cross-sectional area, thickness and the shear modulus of
MRE layer, it can be designed based on the requirements of
applications.
4. Experimental testing and evaluation of the
adaptive base isolator
4.1. Experimental setup
A series of experimental tests were conducted to evaluate
and characterize the performance of the MRE base isolator
prototype utilizing the experimental setup shown in figure 4.
In the experimental setup, the UTS shake table was used
to provide horizontal loadings to the isolator either in the
quasi-static mode or in dynamic mode. The MRE base isolator
is mounted on the shake table and moves along with the shake
table motion. A load cell (Model No. STS-300-B10, Sun Scale
INC) was installed to a fixed reaction rig to measure the lateral
load applied to the isolators. During the test, the top plate of
the MRE isolator and the load cell remained motionless thus
eliminating undesired inertia force in the measurements. A
displacement sensor which is built in the shake table (MTS,
USA) provides the displacement measurement. A DC power
supply (DC Power Conditioner, SOLA Electric, Division of
Smart Mater. Struct. 22 (2013) 095020 Y Li et al

Figure 9. Maximum force versus applied current.

Figure 10. MR effect on force increase due to change of frequencies and amplitudes. (a) Influence of loading frequencies. (b) Influence of
loading amplitudes.

SOLA Basic Australia) with capacity of 240 V and 5.3 A,
as shown in figure 5, provides DC current to energize the
magnetic coil. A slider (type: S-260-10, Yamabishi Electric
Co. Ltd, Tokyo, Japan) was used to adjust the applied current
to the magnetic coil, also shown in figure 10. A multi-meter
(Model No. 115, Fluke) was also used to monitor the current
output from the slider during the testing.
For dynamic tests, various harmonic inputs under
displacement control were chosen to load the base isolator.
Three amplitudes (2 mm, 4 mm and 8 mm, corresponding to
8%, 16% and 32% shear strain) were selected for the tests
under various loading frequencies (0.1, 1, 2 and 4 Hz). For
each loading case, four currents (0.0, 1.0, 2.0 and 3.0 A)
were applied to examine performance of the device under

7
Smart Mater. Struct. 22 (2013) 095020 Y Li et al

Figure 11. Effective stiffness versus applied current.

Figure 12. MR effect on effective stiffness increase due to change of frequencies and amplitudes. (a) Influence of loading frequency.
(b) Influence of loading amplitude.

different magnetic fields. At least 10 cycles were measured
for each single loading case to ensure the stable performance
of the device is captured for each case. In addition, each set
of testing was repeated five times independently to ensure
the accuracy and consistency of test results. Therefore 240
tests in total were conducted. Since in the current design,
the coil generates a considerable amount of heat due to its
high resistance (about 43 ), temperature control was also
considered to maintain the temperature at a relatively constant
level through the different sets of tests. The sampling rate for
the data acquisition was set at 256 Hz to capture all test results
including the dynamic tests.

8
Smart Mater. Struct. 22 (2013) 095020 Y Li et al

Figure 13. Maximum force versus amplitude (0.1, 1.0, 2.0 and 4.0 Hz).

Figure 14. Effective stiffness versus amplitude.

4.2. Experimental results
4.2.1. General remarks. Figure 6 shows the force
measurements of the adaptive base isolator under a sinusoidal
loading (2 mm and 1.0 Hz) with various applied currents
(0.0 A, 1.0 A, 2.0 A and 3.0 A). The performance of the MRE
base isolator becomes stable after five cycles, which confirms
the needs for recording at least 10 cycles of measurement data.
This observation is also supported by Abe et al [44]—that is,
the performance of rubber or elastomer becomes stable after
certain shear motions, although the time to reach the stable
state may vary for different materials. From the figure, it can
also be seen that there is a significant increase of the measured
force when the current is applied, e.g. 11 N for 0.0 A and

9
Smart Mater. Struct. 22 (2013) 095020 Y Li et al

Figure 15. Maximum force versus frequency (2 and 8 mm).

Figure 16. Effective stiffness versus frequency (4 and 8 mm).

Figure 17. Damping coefficient versus current.

140 N for 3.0 A, which indicates that great MR effect is amplitudes at frequencies of 0.1 Hz and 2.0 Hz, respectively.
achieved via this design. For each loading case, force increases with applied currents
Figures 7 and 8 show the force–displacement loops of can be clearly observed. The measured force also increases
the MRE base isolator at various sinusoidal loadings of three with increase of the loading amplitude naturally. Since the

10
Smart Mater. Struct. 22 (2013) 095020 Y Li et al

Figure 18. Damping coefficient versus amplitude and frequency.

Figure 19. Damping ratio versus applied current (1 = 4 mm).

slope of the force–displacement loops indicates the lateral
stiffness of the MRE isolator, it can also be observed that
at a certain current range the stiffness of the MRE base
isolator gains a considerably larger increase. Moreover, as the
enclosed area of the loop represents the energy dissipation, or
the damping equivalent, of the MRE isolator, it is noted that
the damping of the MRE isolator increases when the applied
current increases.
4.2.2. Maximum force and effective stiffness. Figure 9
presents the maximum forces of the MRE base isolator under
different loadings and applied currents. It can be seen that the
MRE base isolator performs stably. Also, the relationship of
the maximum force and the applied current is approximately
linear for all the loading amplitudes and loading frequencies.
Table 1 lists the maximum forces of the MRE base
isolator under various loading conditions. The maximum

11
Smart Mater. Struct. 22 (2013) 095020 Y Li et al

Figure 20. Damping ratio versus amplitude and frequency.

Table 1. Maximum forces (N) of the MRE base isolator under various loading conditions.
1 = 2 mm 1 = 4 mm 1 = 8 mm
Maximum force
(normalized, N) 0.1 Hz 1.0 Hz 2.0 Hz 4.0 Hz 0.1 Hz 1.0 Hz 2.0 Hz 4.0 Hz 0.1 Hz 1.0 Hz 2.0 Hz 4.0 Hz
0.0 A 8.13 10.93 12.72 15.58 15.17 20.12 23.56 28.98 30.59 39.70 45.41 55.66
1.0 A 52.70 56.99 57.69 59.86 79.39 86.63 88.26 92.33 131.48 148.36 150.71 160.53
2.0 A 93.78 106.77 104.58 106.88 138.38 156.79 155.32 159.11 224.01 260.03 261.04 272.32
3.0 A 128.39 136.20 133.25 135.78 190.48 199.79 197.48 201.67 298.29 323.10 326.01 338.51
Increase (0–3 A) (%) 1479 1146 948 772 1156 893 738 596 875 714 618 508

Table 2. Effective stiffness (kN m−1 ) of the MRE base isolator under various loading conditions.
Effective stiffness 1 = 2 mm 1 = 4 mm 1 = 8 mm
(normalized, kN m−1 ) 0.1 Hz 1.0 Hz 2.0 Hz 4.0 Hz 0.1 Hz 1.0 Hz 2.0 Hz 4.0 Hz 0.1 Hz 1.0 Hz 2.0 Hz 4.0 Hz
0.0 A 3.64 4.96 5.80 6.88 3.63 4.69 5.33 6.43 3.72 4.62 5.24 6.23
1.0 A 25.58 27.13 27.52 27.75 19.35 20.72 20.87 21.07 15.99 17.72 17.81 18.12
2.0 A 45.73 52.22 50.64 50.47 33.73 38.15 37.53 37.25 27.32 31.44 31.15 31.30
3.0 A 62.98 66.13 65.02 65.26 46.64 48.74 47.88 47.72 36.41 39.31 39.29 39.30
Increase (0–3 A) (%) 1630 1234 1022 848 1186 939 798 642 878 751 650 531

force presented in the table is an average value of five repeated
individual tests and a maximum force occurs when the loading
amplitude and the applied current are both at their highest
values (the loading frequency has little effect on it). Maximum
MR effect occurs in the quasi-static case where the force
increase can be up to 1479% as the input current increases
from zero to 3.0 A. A close examination of the force increases
due to loading frequencies and loading amplitudes reveals
that the amount of increase in force gradually decreases for
both cases with increases of either the frequency or amplitude.
Figure 10 clearly illustrates this trend.
Figure 11 illustrates the changes of the effective stiffness
of the MRE base isolator due to applied currents under various
loadings. Similarly as the maximum force, the effective
stiffness of the MRE base isolator increases almost linearly
with applied currents. Table 2 lists the effective stiffness
of the MRE base isolator under various loading conditions.
The details of the effective stiffness calculation can be
found in the authors’ previous publications [25, 45]. The
effective stiffness values listed in table 2 are normalized
from five repeated tests. The maximum effective stiffness
is 66 kN m−1 and the maximum increase of the effective
stiffness (i.e. when increasing current from 0.0 to 3.0 A)
is 1630% from quasi-static tests. As shown in figure 12,
with increasing loading frequency and amplitude, the effective
stiffness exhibits a descending trend.
The observation of results from figures 10–14 leads to
a clear conclusion that the maximum force and the effective
stiffness of the MRE base isolator have amplitude-dependent
or strain-dependent nature. The relationship between the
maximum force and loading amplitudes is approximately
linear. However, for a given loading frequency the force
increase due to MR effect will decrease with the increase of
loading amplitudes. The same observation is found for the
effective stiffness of the MRE base isolator in figure 12. The
strain-dependent behavior is a normal phenomenon associated
with rubber material [46, 47].
Figures 15 and 16 show the trends of maximum force
and effective stiffness versus change of loading frequency. For
zero magnetic field, the force and stiffness of the base isolator

12
Smart Mater. Struct. 22 (2013) 095020 Y Li et al

Figure 21. Force–displacement loops of the MRE base isolator (f = 0.1 Hz).

Table 3. Equivalent damping (kN s m−1 ) of the MRE base isolator under various loading conditions.
Equivalent damping 1 = 2 mm 1 = 4 mm 1 = 8 mm
(normalized kN s m−1 ) 0.1 Hz 1.0 Hz 2.0 Hz 4.0 Hz 0.1 Hz 1.0 Hz 2.0 Hz 4.0 Hz 0.1 Hz 1.0 Hz 2.0 Hz 4.0 Hz
0.0 A 1.85 0.35 0.22 0.14 1.67 0.33 0.21 0.14 1.50 0.30 0.19 0.13
1.0 A 17.42 2.07 1.09 0.61 12.46 1.50 0.81 0.46 9.33 1.15 0.63 0.37
2.0 A 30.06 3.62 1.87 1.01 20.75 2.50 1.31 0.73 15.43 1.88 1.00 0.56
3.0 A 36.70 4.23 2.19 1.19 26.04 2.94 1.53 0.85 20.02 2.24 1.18 0.66

increase with increasing of the loading frequency. However,
at higher magnetic field, the force and stiffness of the base
isolator remain almost independent of the loading frequency.
Since only limited frequencies have been selected for testing,
the dependence of the base isolator behavior on loading
frequency needs to be further examined. Since the proposed
MRE base isolator is mainly targeted at the seismic protection
of buildings, in which the most destructive frequency range is
below 5 Hz, the experimental investigation conducted in this
research is sufficient to serve the purpose.
4.2.3. Equivalent damping and damping ratio. Damping
is another important attribute for the base isolator, which
indicates the energy dissipation capability of the device.
In this research equivalent damping and damping ratio are
considered to characterize the damping property of the new
MRE adaptive base isolator. The detailed formulation for
equivalent damping and damping ratio calculation can be
found in [25, 45].
As can be seen from figures 17 and 18, the equivalent
damping linearly increases with the increase of the
applied current but decreases with increase of the loading
amplitude. More significantly, the damping coefficient
decreases dramatically with increase of the loading frequency.
Table 3 lists the normalized equivalent damping coefficients
from the experimental data. Similar to the observations in
[25, 27], for three different loading amplitudes, the effective
damping coefficients remain nearly the same, for a given
loading frequency and input current.
The damping ratios of the new MRE base isolator are
between 12% and 28%, as shown in table 4. Figure 19 presents
the relationship between the damping ratios of the MRE base

13
Smart Mater. Struct. 22 (2013) 095020 Y Li et al

Figure 22. Force–displacement loops of the MRE base isolator (f = 1.0 Hz).

Table 4. Damping ratio of the MRE base isolator under various loading conditions.
Damping ratio 1 = 2 mm 1 = 4 mm 1 = 8 mm
(normalized kN s m−1 ) 0.1 Hz 1.0 Hz 2.0 Hz 4.0 Hz 0.1 Hz 1.0 Hz 2.0 Hz 4.0 Hz 0.1 Hz 1.0 Hz 2.0 Hz 4.0 Hz
0.0 A 0.151 0.220 0.243 0.258 0.145 0.223 0.249 0.266 0.127 0.205 0.232 0.254
1.0 A 0.214 0.240 0.250 0.276 0.202 0.228 0.244 0.277 0.183 0.204 0.222 0.254
2.0 A 0.207 0.218 0.233 0.252 0.193 0.206 0.220 0.246 0.177 0.188 0.202 0.226
3.0 A 0.183 0.201 0.212 0.229 0.175 0.189 0.201 0.223 0.173 0.179 0.188 0.210

isolator and the applied current. For various applied currents,
one common trend is that the damping ratio decreases along
the applied current when the applied current is above 1.0 A.
Figure 20 presents the relationship between the damping
ratio, the loading amplitude and the frequency. It is clear
that the damping ratio increases with increase of the loading
frequency while it decreases with increase of the loading
amplitude.
Traditional laminated rubber bearings/isolators are often
categorized into low-damping rubber bearings and high-
damping rubber bearings. For low-damping rubber bearings,
the damping ratio is in the range of 2%–3%, due to being
made of low damping natural rubber. The damping ratio of
high-damping rubber bearings ranges up to 10%–15% for
effective dissipation of the vibration energy [1–3]. The new
MRE base isolator, with damping ratio from 12% to 28%, is
clearly in the range of high-damping rubber bearings.
5. Further discussion
Strain stiffening was observed in the MRE base isolator when
it underwent large strain. Procedures to enhance the magnetic
field in the MREs were introduced to ensure a large MR effect
to be energized.
5.1. Behaviors in large deformation
Figures 21–23 illustrate the hysteretic behavior of the new
MRE base isolator at various loading frequencies, applied
currents and amplitudes. Each figure displays the hysteresis
loop of the device at a constant loading frequency and applied
current under various loading amplitudes, i.e. 2 mm, 4 mm
and 8 mm, respectively. From the figures, it can be seen
that at the same loading frequency and applied current, the
slopes of the hysteresis loops decrease with the increase of

14
Smart Mater. Struct. 22 (2013) 095020
Figure 23. Force–displacement loops of the MRE base isolator (f = 4.0 Hz).
loading amplitudes. It is also clear that the new MRE base
isolator exhibits a stiffening effect when the shear strain is
large, i.e. strain stiffening. When the loading frequency is low,
e.g. at 0.1 Hz, the strain stiffening appears for all cases. With
increase of the loading frequencies, the strain stiffening effect
is less obvious for cases of low magnetic field, such as zero
field cases at f = 1.0 and 4.0 Hz. It is also observed that
the strain stiffening effect becomes more obvious when the
applied currents are gradually increased from 1.0 to 3.0 A. For
low amplitudes, e.g. at amplitude of 2 mm, strain stiffening is
hardly observed. The strain stiffening effect can be observed
for some cases when the amplitude is 4 mm.
The explanation for the strain stiffening effect is
attributed to the limited extensibility of polymer chains
[48, 49] for normal rubber. However, for the field-dependent
MR elastomer, it is more complicated. When no magnetic
field is applied, the particles are restricted in the position
due to the rubber matrix when the material undergoes shear
deformation. When a certain level of magnetic field is applied
to the material, in addition to the resistance of rubber matrix,
the iron particles are also held by the magnetic force from the
surrounding iron particles, which makes the extensibility of
the chain structure even less. This explains why for some cases
the strain stiffening is minimum for the zero-field situation but
is obvious for non-zero magnetic field.
15
Y Li et al
5.2. Rate-dependent behavior
For high-damping rubber bearing/isolator, there is also a
well-known rate-dependent behavior [48], in which the areas
of the hysteresis loops depend on the strain rate undertaken.
Figure 24 shows the hysteresis of the MRE base isolator under
various loading frequencies, i.e. 0.1, 1.0, 2.0 and 4.0 Hz, at the
same shear amplitude, representing different shear strain rates.
The rate-dependency of the base isolator is clearly observed as
in figure 24, as the sizes of hysteresis loops increase with the
increase of the loading rate. Compared with the performance
of MRE base isolator under various applied currents, stronger
rate dependence is observed when zero magnetic field is
applied to the MREs. The MRE base isolator is designed and
proposed to be used in the development of smart base isolation
system in which the implementation of semi-active control is
critical. Therefore, the rate-dependent behavior of the MRE
base isolator needs to be further explored during its hysteresis
modeling.
5.3. On the provision of magnetic field
Providing sufficient and uniform magnetic field to MREs is
one of the critical factors to the successful development of
Smart Mater. Struct. 22 (2013) 095020
Figure 24. Force–displacement loops of the MRE base isolators under same deformation.
an adaptive MRE base isolator, as MRE is known for its
poor magnetic conductivity. As the authors reported in the
first MRE base isolator study [25–27], despite the successful
concept-proof of the MRE adaptive base isolator, the MR
effect of the first prototype of the MRE base isolator was
only less than 40% stiffness increase compared to the 1630%
stiffness increase in this paper with the new MRE base
isolator. Besides the selection of different MRE material, one
of the main reasons for the poor MR effect of the previous
MRE isolator is due to the poor manufacturing process,
specifically due to poor bonding between the MREs and steel
sheets at the edge due to air bubbles, etc. In this design,
the bonding is much improved by thoroughly eliminating
the air between MREs and steel sheets. For 25 layers of
MRE, during the assembly, the laminated structure was evenly
pressed after each MRE layer was glued with the steel sheets.
After the gluing procedure was completed, the laminated
structure remained pressed for 12 h to firmly consolidate the
bonding. As a result, the developed new MRE base isolator
showed a more than 16-fold stiffness increase while under the
predicted magnetic field (0.44 T) the stiffness increase should
be 13-fold. It is therefore estimated that the magnetic circuit
produced stronger magnetic field well above that designed
(0.44 T).
16
Y Li et al
6. Conclusions
Upon the success on the development of the world’s first
laminated MRE base isolator, the research and development
of a new highly adjustable MRE base isolator has been
conducted by the authors to explore the limitation of MR
effect of the MRE base isolators for real-time adaptive
vibration control. A soft MRE material was designed and
fabricated with 1300% shear modulus increase at the magnetic
field of 0.44 T and then incorporated into the laminated
structure of the base isolator design. A new manufacturing
process for fabrication of MRE base isolator was also
introduced to improve the magnetic field in the laminated
MRE isolator. A prototype of this new highly adjustable
MRE base isolator was then subjected to a comprehensive
experimental investigation to explore its characteristics and
evaluate its performance. The results of the tests and
subsequent analysis showed that the new MRE base isolator
possesses a remarkable adaptive ability—that is, it can
produce up to 1479% force increase and 1630% stiffness
increase when the applied current is switched from 0.0 to
3.0 A. Such amazing performance of this new MRE base
isolator will enable the design and implementation of a truly
real-time adaptive base isolation system to combat any type of
earthquake with reliability and efficiency.
Smart Mater. Struct. 22 (2013) 095020
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