Investigating magnetorheological properties of a mixture of two types of carbonyl iron powders suspended in an ionic liquid

In this work, properties of a magnetorheological (MR) fluid, prepared by dispersing a mixture of two types of carbonyl iron powders (CIPs) of different sizes, in an ionic liquid (N,N-diethyl-N-methyl-N-(2-methoxyethyl) ammonium tetrafluoroborate) that is stable from 9 °C to ca. 300 °C, have been investigated. At first, the random packing density of the mixture was computed as function of mixing ratio of CIP, in order to find out the tendency of the variation. Next, several mixtures, all having the same weight, were prepared at various mixing ratios and dispersed in the ionic liquid, in order to experimentally find the most suitable mixing ratio of CIP. Then, the magnetic clusters of the synthesized MR fluids were observed by using a digital microscope equipped with two permanent magnets, whereas the MR properties were investigated by using a rotation viscometer equipped with a solenoid coil. The experimental results pointed out that the MR fluid with 60 wt% fraction of large particles exhibited the highest MR response.