Journal of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry 15 (2009) 769–772

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Journal of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry

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Short communication

Quadrupolar magnetoresistor based on electroconductive magnetorheological

elastomer
Ioan Bica
West University of Timişoara, Faculty of Physics, Bd. V. Pârvan, No. 4, 300223 Timişoara, Romania

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Article history: The quadrupolar magnetoresistor presented in this paper is based on the electroconductive
Received 18 May 2009 magnetorheological elastomer (MRE) such as discussed in this paper. It is shown that the electric
Accepted 23 June 2009 resistances on each pair of terminals of the magnetoresistor can be controlled by an external magnetic
field. The results obtained are able to serve for several applications.
Keywords: ß 2009 The Korean Society of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights
Magnetorheological elastomer (MRE) reserved.
Silicone rubber
Magnetoresistor
Magnetic field
Electroconductivity

1. Introduction Needles to say that electroconductive MREs represent an

interesting class of smart materials for which are promising for
Magnetoresistors are passive elements of an electric circuit. new applications.
Their body is an active magnetic material. In Ref. [1] it is shown One of these applications will be presented bellow.
that the device made of a nonmagnetic tube which is connected at
its ends with two electrodes and which contains the magnetor-
2. Experimental studies
heological suspension. We found that its electric resistance
depends on the intensity and direction of the applied magnetic
The device consisting of two resistors with shared electro-
field.
conductive MRE is called quadrupolar magnetoresistor. The overall
The change in the electric resistance of the magnetoresistor is
scheme of the quadrupolar magnetoresistor ‘‘CM’’ is indicated in
due to the electric contact resistances occurring between the
Fig. 1. The ‘‘CM’’ body has the shape of a parallelipiped (Fig. 1). Its
magnetic dipoles (directed along the magnetic field lines) in the
vat and its lid (Fig. 1a) are made of stratisticlotextolit. The
liquid matrix [1–9]. As in the case of magnetorheological
electrodes 3 (Fig. 1a) are made of copper. The surface of the
suspensions, aggregates are formed in magnetorheological elas-
electrodes (Fig. 1a) is 50 mm  5 mm.
tomers (MREs) in magnetic field. Their strength depend on the
In the distancers 2 in Fig. 1a, the electrodes are fixed. The
strength of the applied magnetic field and on the magnetic
dimensions of the electrodes are 15 mm  2 mm. Each electrode is
properties of the magnetizable phase embedded in the elastic
provided with a connection terminal. The electroconductive MRE,
matrix.
is poured, in its liquid phase, into the vat 10 , by keeping fixed lid 1.
The formation of aggregates in the elastic matrix drastically
An elastic body results after polymerization (position 5 in Fig. 1a),
modifies MREs viscoelasticity [10–13], a property used in
which adheres to the copper electrodes.
achieving attenuators or/and absorbers of vibrations and mechan-
The electric resistance of ‘‘CM’’ between the electrodes 3 is RL,
ical shocks [12,13]. Recent researches [14–16] have shown that
while between the electrodes 4, the ‘‘CM’’ resistance is RT.
along the magnetic field lines the MREs band compresses
The study of ‘‘CM’’ in magnetic field is achieved by using the
reversibly. Because of this, the flat condenser with dielectric
experimental device in Fig. 2.
MRE reversibly modifies its electric capacity in magnetic field, a
The device (Fig. 2) includes an electromagnet consisting of the
property which can be used in achieving traductors of pressure and
core 1 and the coil 2. Between the poles of the electromagnet (with
force.
the opening of 50 mm and the length of 100 mm) there are the
‘‘CM’’ and the Hall probe (position S in Fig. 2). The electrodes 3–30 of
the ‘‘CM’’ are coupled to the digital ohmmeter RL, while the
E-mail address: ibica2@yahoo.com. electrodes 4–40 are connected to the digital ohmmeter RT.

1226-086X/$ – see front matter ß 2009 The Korean Society of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.jiec.2009.09.029
770 I. Bica / Journal of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry 15 (2009) 769–772

Fig. 1. Quadrupolar magnetoresistor: (a) longitudinal section: 1—lid; 10 —vat, 2—

distancer, 3 and 4—electrodes; (b) lid; (c) vat.

The coil of the electromagnet is connected to the current source

‘‘Se’’. By the connection of the electrodes 3–30 to the digital
voltmeter ‘‘V’’ and by the connection of the terminals 4–40 to the
current source ‘‘Sc’’, ‘‘CM’’ becomes a magnetic field sensor.
The materials used for the manufacturing of electroconductive
MREs are:

– silicone rubber (‘‘SR’’), type RTV 3325 (Bluestar Silicones SAS);

– catalyst (‘‘C’’), type 60R (Rhône-Poulene);
– iron carbonyl (‘‘IC’’), type Merck, with granulation ranging
between 4.5 mm and 5.2 mm (min. 97%-Fe);
– silicone oil (‘‘SO’’), type Merck, with viscosity of 200 mPa s at the
temperature of 293 K, and
– graphite microparticles (‘‘G’’), with granulation ranging between
30 mm and 45 mm, obtained by mill grinding of spectral
electrodes type Kahler (Bratislava).

1—magnetic core (length: 100 mm, width: 40 mm); 2—coil

(height: 50 mm); 3, 30 and 4, 40 —electrodes; A—amperemeter
~
(max. 10 Adc); CM—quadrupolar magnetoresistor; H—magnetic
field intensity, GM—gaussmeter type GM-04 with Hall probe S; RL,
RT—digital ohmmeter type UT70B; Se—current source (max.
30 Vdc),

Fig. 3. Iron microparticles: (a) shapes and sizes and (b) cumulative frequency fc as a
function of the diameter of the spheres.

Considering losses (20%), the necessary volume of electro-

Fig. 2. Experimental device for the study of: (a) the variation of RL and RT with H and
(b) the dependence of U on H and I.
conductive MRE for achieving ‘‘CM’’ is of 3 cm3. For the
manufacturing of 3 cm3 of electroconductive MRE, 0.75 cm3
‘‘IC’’, 0.5 cm3 ‘‘SO’’, 0.6 cm3 ‘‘G’’, 0.36 cm3 ‘‘RS’’ and 0.18 cm3 ‘‘C’’
are needed, with  5% precision.
‘‘IC’’ and ‘‘SO’’ are mixed up for 180 s, then heated and kept at
the temperature of 480 K, for 300 s. During this time, ‘‘IC’’
decomposes thermally into ‘‘SO’’. The iron atoms condense in ‘‘SO’’,
 I. Bica / Journal of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry 15 (2009) 769–772 771

Fig. 4. The mean strength H of the magnetic field versus the intensity Ic of the Fig. 6. Electrical conductivities sT and sL function of the intensity H of the magnetic
electric current. field.

forming microparticles [17a,17b]. They are sphere-shaped, as The resistor RL is formed between the electrodes in Fig. 1a. The
shown in Fig. 3a. The diameter of the spheres ranges between 0.25 length of the resistor is d = 2 mm and its surface is
and 0.55 mm. The maximum relative frequency is of 65% for the S0 = 50 mm  5 mm.
iron particles with diameter ranging between 0.35 mm and Using RL = d/(sL  S0 ), the longitudinal electrical conductivity of
0.40 mm (Fig. 3b). the MRE is obtained as:
The homogenizer’s shaft neck is brought to 6000 rpm for 120 s.
8
Accordingly, electroconductive MRE in fluid phase is obtained. It 103  s L ¼ ðMVÞ (1)
RL
takes the shape of the ‘‘CM’’ vat and adheres to the copper
electrodes. Another method to obtain particles of controlled size The resistor RT is formed between the electrodes 4 (Fig. 1a). The
and structure is based ball-milling, now by starting from Fe-based distance between the electrodes is L = 80 mm and the electrode
precursors [18]. surface, equal to that of MRE, is S = 15 mm  2 mm.
This time the transverse electrical conductivity of MRE is
3. Experimental results and discussion obtained as:
8
The experimental device for the study of ‘‘CM’’ with electro- 103  s T ¼ ðMVÞ (2)
3RT
conductive MRE is shown in Fig. 2. The magnetic field generated
between the poles of the electromagnet is non-homogeneous. The by virtue of RT = L/(sT  S). In addition, Fig. 6 shows that sL > sT if
mean intensity H of the magnetic field, measured with the probe S, H 6¼ 0.
attached to the gaussmeter GM, is of maximum 100 kA/m, for Now, we are ready to incorporate (1) and (2) into Fig. 5, which
Ic = 4.2 Adc (Fig. 4). yields the H-dependence of sL and sT, such as displayed in Fig. 6.
In the absence of the magnetic field, one has RL = 1.20 kV and Next 0.6 cm3 ‘‘CO’’ are introduced into the mixture formed of Fe
RT = 3.50 MV. By increasing Ic from 0.20 Adc to 4.20 Adc, RL and RT microparticles and ‘‘SO’’.
get decreased (Fig. 5). Thus, at H = 100 kA/m, both RL = 1.00 kV and After homogenization, 0.96 cm3 ‘‘RS’’ are introduced into the
RT = 0.5 MV. mixture formed of Fe microparticles, ‘‘SO’’ and ‘‘CO’’. With the

Fig. 7. The sum of the main deformations u function of the intensity H of the
Fig. 5. The H-dependence of RL and RT. transverse magnetic field.
772 I. Bica / Journal of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry 15 (2009) 769–772

Silent Crush M homogenizer (Heidolph type), at a rotation of Acknowledgements

3000 rpm, a viscous paste is obtained, after 600 s, in which case
0.18 cm3 ‘‘C’’ is poured. The author conveys his thanks to Erhardt Papp, and Constantin
The electrical conductivity of MRE is due to the graphite Chevereşan (West University of Timişoara), for fruitful and
microparticles. The graphite microparticles are polydispersive, and pertinent discussions during the writing of this paper.
during the polymerization of the silicone rubber they sediment.
Accordingly, areas with various graphite concentrations appear in
the elastic matrix. Accounting for the interaction between graphite References
microparticles MRE gets deformed in magnetic field [19,20]. Along
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[2] I. Bica, J. Magn. Magn. Mater. 283 (2–3) (2004) 335.
the flat condenser method, changes with H as shown in Fig. 7. [3] I. Bica, J. Magn. Magn. Mater. 299 (2) (2006) 412.
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