The magnetorheological fluid of carbonyl iron suspension blended with grafted MWCNT or graphene

In this work, the magnetorheological (MR) fluids containing MWCNT/CI (carbonyl iron) complex and graphene/CI complex were prepared and have the better dispersity in silicone oil than CI powders alone. 1, 4-Aminobenzoic acid (PABA) was used as a grafting agent to modify CI powders to have NH2-end-group so that such nanoparticles can adsorb to acid-treated MWCNT or graphene via attraction of NH2 and COOH groups. The MWCNT/CI complex and graphene/CI complex have a structure of carbonyl iron nanoparticles adsorbed to MWCNT and graphene by self assembly, respectively. Because the carbonyl iron particles possessing magnetic permeability in nanometer scale adsorb to MWCNT or graphene which usually has a nanometer-scaled diameter and a micrometer-scaled length in this work, the dispersity of MWCNT/CI or graphene/CI complex in silicone oil is superior than the previous report [15] that the micrometer-scaled carbonyl iron microspheres were coated with multiwalled carbon nanotubes. Among CI (unmodified), MWCNT/CI and graphene/CI, graphene/CI has the best dispersity while MWCNT/CI still has the better dispersity than unmodified CI. At the temperature T = 300 K, the saturation magnetizations of CI, MWCNT/CI, graphene/CI are 208, 211 emu/g, and 204 emu/g, respectively, indicating that MWCNT/CI complex and graphene/CI complex still maintain the saturation magnetization as high as CI without being interfered by the blended MWCNT or graphene. A wide dynamic range of the yield stress adjusted through varying the electric current can be achieved by the MR fluids containing 69 wt% MWCNT/CI and graphene/CI which is useful in a shock absorber or damper. The result of the yield stress indicates the suspended MWCNT/CI particles are oriented more easily toward the direction perpendicular to the flow direction to block the flow stream lines.