Magnetorheological Elastomers in Tunable Vibration Absorbers

J. M. Gindera, W. F. Schlottera, and M. E. Nicholsb

a
Physics Department, SRL MD 3028
b
Materials Science Department, SRL MD 3182
Ford Research Laboratory
Ford Motor Company
P. O. Box 2053
Dearborn, MI 48121 U. S. A.

ABSTRACT

Filling an elastomeric material with magnetizable particles leads to mechanical properties –shear moduli, tensile moduli, and
magnetostriction coefficients – that are reversibly and rapidly controllable by an applied magnetic field. The origin of the
field dependence of these properties is the existence of field-induced dipole magnetic forces between the particles. These
‘smart’ composites, which are sometimes termed magnetorheological (MR) elastomers, have been explored for use in a
number of components, including automotive suspension bushings. In these and other applications, the tunability of the
stiffness can enhance the compliance-control or vibration-transfer performance of the complex mechanical systems in which
they are used. In the present study, we have constructed a simple one-degree-of-freedom mass-spring system – an adaptive
tuned vibration absorber – that utilizes MR elastomers as variable-spring-rate elements. This device was used not only to
explore the performance of such tunable components, but also to extend measurements of the shear moduli of these materials
to higher frequencies than has previously been reported. We find that the field-induced increase in moduli of these materials
is effective to mechanical frequencies well above 1 kHz, and that the moduli are consistent with the behavior expected for
filled elastomers.

Keywords: Elastomers, magnetic composites, magnetorheology, magneto-viscoelasticity, tuned vibration absorber, tuned
mass damper, state-switched absorber.

1. BACKGROUND

The revival of interest in magnetorheological (MR) fluids over the last decade has led to great progress in understanding the
origin of magnetorheological phenomena,1 as well as the first commercial devices that use these field-controllable materials.2
It has also inspired the development of so-called MR elastomers, the solid-state analogues of MR fluids.3,4,5 While MR fluids
comprise micron-size or smaller magnetizable (or magnetically ‘soft’) particles dispersed in liquids, MR elastomers contain
such particles embedded in elastomeric or rubber-like solids. Elastomers that have been used in the formulation of these
materials include silicone rubber3,4 and natural rubber.5 The application of a magnetic field to an uncured MR elastomer can
lead to the formation of particle chains or more complex three-dimensional structures, a central phenomenon in all MR
materials. If the elastomer is then cured or crosslinked, these structures are locked into place. The anisotropic viscoelastic
composite resulting from this process can possess shear and tensile moduli that are nonzero under all conditions, but that are
controllable by the subsequent application of a magnetic field. The resulting modulus increase is rapid, continuous, and
reversible. For relatively high-modulus host elastomers such as natural rubber, the fractional modulus increase with field can
exceed 50%, while it can be even larger for low-modulus host materials.

Conventional passive elastomeric materials are widely used in components for mounting, vibration isolation, and sealing on
the automobile and in many other commercial products and processes. Elastomers that possess tunable mechanical properties
could dramatically enhance the functionality of these components. We have constructed and tested tunable automotive
mounts and bushings based on MR elastomers;6 most are qualitatively similar to their passive counterparts, differing mainly in
the addition of MR materials and a wire coil. Application of an electrical current to the coil generates a magnetic field in the
elastomer and generally increases the spring rate or stiffness and damping of these components. Such tunable components

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 could be used to alter ride and handling or control noise, vibration, and harshness on vehicles.7,8 For example, they could
minimize the effect of suspension resonances excited by torque variation due to worn brake rotors by shifting the resonance
away from the excitation frequency.7 Many suspension applications involve relatively large deflections at low frequencies,
under one hundred hertz.

Elastomeric materials may also be used in tuned vibration absorbers (TVAs). At their simplest, such devices are single-
degree-of-freedom spring-mass systems whose resonant frequencies are chosen to reduce the vibration amplitude of an object
– a machine or structure – around one of its resonances.9,10 Most TVAs are passive devices: their resonant frequency is
constant, restricting their maximum utility to situations involving a single fixed resonance. To combat vibrations in systems
with widely varying excitation frequencies, such as internal-combustion engines, or in structures with multiple degrees of
freedom, like buildings, a number of adaptive or active TVA mechanisms10,11 have been explored. Mechanical approaches
include compressing coil or leaf springs to vary their spring rates and thus their resonant frequencies.12 A number of
embodiments use 'smart' materials to enable electrical control of the TVA resonance. For example, Flatau and coworkers
constructed a broadly tunable TVA using a magnetostrictive Terfenol-D actuator as the variable spring element;13 electrical
excitation of a solenoid around a Terfenol-D rod generates a magnetic field that dramatically increases its compressive
modulus. Williams and colleagues used shape-memory alloy wires to construct a tunable TVA.14 By applying an electrical
current to the wires, they can be heated to raise their temperature through the martensitic-to-austenitic phase transformation,
thereby increasing their spring constant. Jolly and coworkers reported the construction of an adaptive TVA using
magnetoviscoelastic gels – MR elastomers – based on silicone rubber, showing that the resonant frequency of this device
could be switched by applying a magnetic field large enough to saturate magnetically the particles embedded in the gel.4
Though a number of control strategies have been developed to utilize tunable TVAs,10,15 it is beyond the scope of this work to
review them here. Nevertheless, the tunability and fast response of MR TVAs may make them interesting test beds for these
strategies.

In the present work, we will explore several of the factors that control the performance of MR TVAs, including magnetic flux
density, acceleration amplitude, and mechanical frequency. We will demonstrate that these components are broadly and
continuously tunable using applied electrical currents. Finally, we will use the TVA performance to extract the material
properties of the MR elastomer – shear modulus and loss – at audio frequencies.

2. ABSORBER CONSTRUCTION AND TESTING

A MR-elastomer-based tunable vibration absorber was constructed as a closed magnetic circuit consisting of a reaction mass
isolated from the absorber base by two compliant elastomeric slabs, Figure 1. The metallic portions of the magnetic circuit
were constructed of low-carbon steel in order to carry magnetic flux. The field source was a wire coil with roughly 600 turns
of 21 gauge copper magnet wire placed around one arm of the magnetic circuit. The elastomers comprised carbonyl iron
particles (ISP, grade S-3700) loaded at a volume fraction of approximately 0.27 in natural rubber, cis-polyisoprene. These
materials, together with the necessary crosslinkers and processing aids, were combined in a conventional two-roll mill. The
resulting mixture was compression-molded in a custom-made mold constructed from low-carbon steel and containing a wire
coil that served as a magnetic field source. The MR elastomers used in this study were exposed to an average flux density of
0.8 Tesla during curing in order to achieve the particle alignment necessary to produce an MR effect; curing took place at 150
°C for 15 minutes. Elastomer samples were typically molded in disks of 60 mm diameter by 2 mm thickness with the field
direction perpendicular to the face of the disks. The absorber was based on a so-called double-lap shear specimen geometry,
Figure 1. Two rectangular slabs were cut from the elastomer disks and were affixed to the dynamic mass with cyanoacrylate
adhesive. The outer faces of the elastomer slabs were similarly affixed to the arms of the absorber base.

The absorber base was bolted to the platform of an electrodynamic shaker (Labworks ET-140) in order to excite vibrations of
the reaction mass and shear the elastomer. The absorber could also be rotated by 90o in order to expose the elastomer to
tensile deformations. The accelerations of the reaction mass and the base were monitored by piezoelectric accelerometers
(PCB 352-C65) and associated amplifiers (PCB 480-B10). The shaker was excited sinuosoidally by an amplifier (Labworks
pa-141) driven by a signal generator (Stanford Research DS345). The magnetic field generated by the wire coil was
modulated by an operational amplifier power supply (Kepco 36-6D). The average flux density in the elastomer was
monitored by a calibrated sense coil wound around the magnetic circuit and fed to an integrating fluxmeter (Walker Scientific
MF-3D). These instruments were controlled and data were acquired using an analog input/output board (Keithley KPCI-

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 reaction m ass z(t)

w ire coil
M R elastom er slabs

flux path

base
z b (t)

Figure 1: Schematic construction of an MR TVA. The reaction mass is affixed to the absorber base by MR elastomer slabs.
The mass and based are constructed from low-carbon steel, forming a low-reluctance path for magnetic flux generated by
electrical current flowing through a wire coil placed around one arm of the TVA. The base is driven by a shaker with a
sinusoidal excitation zb(t), resulting in motion z(t) of the reaction mass.

3108) and General Purpose Interface Bus board (Capital Equipment PCI488) in a Wintel personal computer running
TestPoint software. Accelerometer magnitude and phase information were acquired as a function of frequency and base
amplitude and analyzed using a fast Fourier transform algorithm. The shaker was driven at constant acceleration and
frequencies were varied in a stepped sine mode. Data were acquired at fixed values of the sample flux density B ranging
from 0 to 0.56 Tesla.

3. EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS

Figure 2 shows the frequency and flux density dependence of the acceleration amplitude ratio – the transmissibility – and the
phase difference between the reaction mass and the base when driven with a peak acceleration apeak ≡ | 
zb | of 2.0 g (1 g =
9.80 m/s2). As shown in the inset to Figure 2(a), the natural frequency of the absorber shifts upward dramatically in response
to the applied field, behavior consistent with the known field-dependent shear modulus in these materials. The
transmissibility and resonant frequency also depends on the base acceleration amplitude, Figure 3.

4. ANALYSIS

The equation of motion for the reaction mass of the elastomeric spring-mass system, neglecting the static deflection due to the
force of gravity, can be written as
z + K * ( z − zb ) = 0 ,
M  (1)
*
where M is the effective reaction mass, z is the displacement of the reaction mass, zb is the displacement of the base, and K is
the complex dynamic stiffness of the elastomer. The complex stiffness can be written as
K * = K eiδ , (2)
where K is the magnitude of the stiffness and δ is the loss angle. With the elastomer deflected in shear, the stiffness can be
related to the magnitude of the shear modulus of the elastomer, G: K = GA/h, where A is the total area of the elastomer
bonded to the reaction mass, and h is the elastomer thickness. Given a sinusoidal base excitation zb(t) = |zb|eiωt , where ω is
the angular frequency, and assuming that the displacement of the reaction mass is also a pure sinusoid z(t) = |z|ei(ωt+ϕ), where

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 ϕ is the phase angle, we can solve for the frequency-dependent transmissibility T ≡ |z|/|zb|,
1/ 2
 1 2
M ω 2   M 2ω 4  2   Mω 2 
2

T =  −  + 2  tan δ   1 −  + tan 2 δ  (3)
 cos δ K cos δ   K cos δ K cos δ 
2 2
   
and the phase angle
tan δ
tan ϕ = . (4)
K
1−
M ω 2 cos δ

6
620

600

580
5

f0 (Hz)
560
(a) 540

520
4
Transmissibility

500

480
0.0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6
B (T)
3

Increasing B
2

1
apeak = 2.0 g

0
0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200 1400

Frequency (Hz)

(b)

-1
Phase (rad)

Increasing B
-2

-3
apeak = 2.0 g

0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200 1400

Frequency (Hz)

Figure 2: Frequency dependence of the (a) transmissibility and (b) phase of the MR TVA with a peak base acceleration of 2.0
g; measurements were taken with applied flux densities B of 0, 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4, 0.5, and 0.56 Tesla. Inset to (a): increase in
the resonant frequency f0 with applied flux density.

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 6

0.2 g
5 0.5 g
1.0 g
2.0 g
Transmissibility 4

0
0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200 1400

Frequency (Hz)

Figure 3: Variation of the transmissibility at zero field with varying acceleration amplitude. The downward shift in the
resonant frequency with increasing acceleration amplitude reflects the strain-softening behavior of the MR elastomer.

The characteristic frequency ωo at which the phase angle reaches –π/2 is then
ω0 = [ K ( M cos δ )]1/ 2 . (5)

The peak transmissibility and corresponding phase can be used to determine the spring rate and loss angle at resonance.
Alternatively, it is possible to obtain directly the stiffness magnitude and loss angle over a broad frequency range from the
frequency-dependent transmissibility and phase. Rearranging the equation of motion,
M 
z
K* = . (6)
zb − z
Solving for the magnitude of the dynamic stiffness, we obtain
M ω 2T
K= 2 , (7)
[T − 2T cos ϕ + 1]1/ 2
while the loss tangent is given by
sin ϕ
tan δ = . (8)
cos ϕ − T

The frequency dependence of the dynamic stiffness magnitude inferred from the data taken at 2.0 g, Figure 4, reveals several
interesting features. First, while phase error and the interference of several extraneous resonances make it difficult to apply
Eq. 8 below about 300 Hz, it is nonetheless clear that the dynamic stiffness is substantially increased by the application of a
magnetic field in the entire frequency range studied. For example, the dynamic stiffness at 400 Hz increases from roughly
530 N/mm in zero field to about 800 N/mm with an average flux density of 0.56 T, an increase of 50%. Second, the decrease
in the dynamic stiffness near resonance reflects the strain-softening of the shear modulus of the MR elastomer, even at the
small strains imposed on the elastomer [the maximum strain is roughly Ta peak /( hω ) , where h is the sample thickness and ω
2

is the angular frequency, or about 3×10-3 for this measurement]. Such nonlinearity has been observed previously in these
materials,4,5 albeit at shear strains of the order of 10-2, and is common in filled elastomeric materials.16 Third, the dynamic
stiffness generally increases with increasing frequency, behavior common to most elastomers.17

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 1400

apeak = 2.0 g

Dynamic Stiffness Magnitude (N/mm)

1200

1000

800

600 Increasing B

400

200
200 400 600 800 1000 1200 1400

Frequency (Hz)

Figure 4: Dynamic stiffness magnitude calculated from the measured transmissibility and phase for applied flux densities
ranging from 0 to 0.56 Tesla. The field-induced increase in the dynamic stiffness is as much as 50% at frequencies below the
mechanical resonance, and is still over 40% at frequencies above 1 kilohertz. The decrease in the stiffness near resonance is
caused by the nonlinearity of the elastomer at the higher strains encountered there.

Figure 5 displays the shear modulus magnitude and loss tangent at 1 kHz for each base acceleration obtained using Eq. 3 from
the dynamic stiffness. The shear strain was of the order of 10-4 for the 2.0 g data at this frequency. The observed variation of
both the shear modulus and the loss tangent with acceleration, or strain, is weak. The shear modulus is found to depend
strongly on the applied flux density, initially increasing quadratically with flux density and saturating as the flux density is
increased, consistent with the role of field induced dipole-dipole interparticle attractive forces and in qualitative agreement
with previous measurements at much lower frequencies.4,5 The loss tangent, Figure 5b, depends only weakly on flux density;
its magnitude is again in qualitative agreement with previous measurements.

5. CONCLUSIONS

We have used MR elastomers as the compliant elements of a single-degree-of-freedom spring-mass system with a resonant
frequency that is broadly tunable by the application of a magnetic field. Analysis of the frequency dependence of the
transmissibility and phase of this system enables the extraction of the complex stiffness of the compliant elements, or
equivalently the dynamic shear modulus and loss tangent of the MR elastomer over a broad frequency range. The elastomer
is much stiffer at the high frequencies and small strains entailed in these measurements than previous low-frequency, high-
strain experiments. Nonetheless, the shear modulus of the elastomer retains its tunability with applied magnetic field to
frequencies above 1 kHz. Thus, these materials may be used as tunable vibration absorbers that can be controlled using
applied magnetic fields. Such an approach provides several potential advantages over other adaptive TVA technologies,
including high bandwidth – the elastomer modulus can be varied on a millisecond time scale; high compliance – the elastomer
can tolerate very high strains without damage; and flexibility – elastomers enable the construction of TVAs able to control
vibrations in multiple directions. Future work will focus on integrating these elements into a control system to take advantage
of this functionality.

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 8.0

(a)

Shear Modulus Magnitude (MPa)

7.5

7.0

1000 Hz
6.5

6.0
0.2 g
0.5 g
5.5 1.0 g
2.0 g

5.0
0.0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6

Flux Density (T)

0.30

(b)
0.2 g
0.5 g
1.0 g
2.0 g
0.25
tan δ

0.20

1000 Hz

0.15
0.0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6

Flux Density (T)

Figure 5: Flux density dependence of the (a) dynamic shear modulus and (b) the loss tangent at 1 kHz inferred from the
transmissibility and phase. The increase in shear modulus with flux density is still substantial at this mechanical frequency –
almost 40% at 0.56 Tesla. The loss tangent decreases at high flux density, though the dependence on B is weaker.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The authors thank Seamus Clark, Craig Davis, Larry Elie, and Will Hockett of Ford Motor Company for their collaborations
and support of this work, and Professor Ken Cunefare and Dr. Mark Jolly for useful discussions.

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