Effect of sucrose acetate isobutyrate ester on the epoxidised natural rubber based magnetorheological elastomers

In this study, magnetorheological elastomers (MREs) were synthesized by incorporating various amounts of sucrose acetate isobutyrate (SAIB) ester plasticizer dopped in the epoxidized natural rubber (ENR-50) matrix with constant carbonyl iron particles (CIPs) of 60 weight percent. The effect of SAIB insertion on curing characteristics has been observed using a moving die rheometer. The microstructures appearance of the samples were observed using a field emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM). Finally, the magneto-induced storage modulus was measured by using a rheometer 302. The experimental results have demonstrated that the addition of SAIB ester decreased the cure rate index (CRI) by 63% and increased the MR effect by 37%. Observation of microstructure shows that the CIPs embedded well in the matrix and produced the isotropic structure of the MREs. Meanwhile, the fabricated MREs samples were frequencies dependent, where all MREs samples exhibit the incremental trend when increasing the frequencies. The introduction of SAIB has proven to influence the properties of the MREs. (paper)