The field-dependent conductivity of dimorphic magnetorheological gel incorporated with iron nanowire

In this article, iron nanowire is synthesized by reducing Fe ²⁺ ion with excessive sodium borohydride in deionized aqueous solution. A kind of dimorphic magnetorheological gel is prepared by partial substitution of carbonyl iron particles with Fe nanowires. Several experimental devices based on the dimorphic magnetorheological gel were fabricated, and the magneto-resistance characteristics under a magnetic field of those devices are systematically tested to research the influence of the Fe nanowire on the conductivity of magnetorheological gel. The experimental results indicated that by adding a certain amount of Fe nanowire, the conductivity of the dimorphic magnetorheological gel can be greatly improved. Moreover, it can be seen that the conductivity of sample 4 (with 6 wt.% Fe nanowire) is increased by about 100 times than sample 1 (without Fe nanowire). The mechanism of Fe nanowire enhances the conductivity of the dimorphic magnetorheological gel, which is investigated by microstructure analysis.