Particle orientation and bulk properties of magnetoactive elastomers fabricated with aligned barium hexaferrite

This work studied the relationship between embedded particle volume fraction and magnetic particle orientation distribution in aligned 325 mesh barium hexaferrite (BHF) and polydimethylsiloxane (Sylgard 184; Dow Corning) magnetoactive elastomer (MAE) composites. BHF particles were aligned within the elastomer in the out-of-plane direction, as the material cured. Particle orientation distribution was defined herein by observations of the population of directions at which particle magnetizations resided; magnetization coincides with the physical crystallographicc-axis of BHF. The work used results of vibrating sample magnetometry experiments on MAEs with increasing volume concentrations of embedded ferromagnetic particles (10–30 v/v%) to determine changing widths of analytical particle distribution functions used to describe the range of particle orientations. With over 80% confidence, results showed that MAE composites having the intermediate 15 v/v% had the highest degree of magnetic (and thereby physical) alignment as well as magnetic remanence.