Sound attenuation in magnetorheological fluids

In this work, the attenuation of ultrasonic elastic waves propagating through magnetorheological (MR) fluids is analysed as a function of the particle volume fraction and the magnetic field intensity. Non-commercial MR fluids made with iron ferromagnetic particles and two different solvents (an olive oil based solution and an Araldite-epoxy) were used. Particle volume fractions of up to 0.25 were analysed. It is shown that the attenuation of sound depends strongly on the solvent used and the volume fraction. The influence of a magnetic field up to 212 mT was studied and it was found that the sound attenuation increases with the magnetic intensity until saturation is reached. A hysteretic effect is evident once the magnetic field is removed.