Enhanced magnetorheological effect and sedimentation stability of bimodal magnetorheological fluids doped with iron nanoparticles

The improvement of properties of magnetorheological fluids and mechanism study has long been a classic area within the field of magnetorheological materials. This article was undertaken to dope the iron nanoparticles synthesized by direct current electric arc discharge with the traditional carbonyl iron powders to prepare bimodal magnetorheological fluids with different doping ratios. Their rheological properties and sedimentation stability were evaluated to explore the influence rules and mechanisms. The results indicate that the effect of the addition of iron nanoparticles on rheological properties under magnetic field is a combination of two opposing factors such as the strengthening of the structure and the weakening of magnetization. The sedimentation stability of the bimodal magnetorheological fluids improved significantly with the increase in the proportion of iron nanoparticles, which is attributed to the help of both free state and adsorbed state iron nanoparticles in magnetorheological fluids. Furthermore, within a specific magnetic field strength range, the bimodal magnetorheological fluids with a small proportion of iron nanoparticles can achieve an improvement in both rheological property and sedimentation stability compared with carbonyl iron particles–based magnetorheological fluids.