ABSTRACT

Magnetorheological fluids (MRFs) are peculiar of smart fluids whose rheological properties can be efficiently controlled by varying applied magnetic field. Owing to this peculiar property, it can be utilized in industrial applications in semi-active devices such as dampers, actuators, etc. In this work, an effort has been attempted to produce MRFs using natural oils as carrier fluids and tested for potential replacement of conventional carrier fluids such as silicone oil. The MR fluids are prepared using silicone oil and two natural oil namely Mahua oil and Simarouba oil. Carbonyl iron (CI) and Electrolytic iron (EI) are used as suspended particles with lithium grease as an additive. The MRF using two natural based oil are known as Green magneto rheological fluids (GMRF). The characterization of suspended particles and carrier liquids was performed, followed by tests on sedimentation stability of prepared samples. To compare the sedimentation stability, the graphs of sedimentation ratio versus time are plotted for all MR fluids samples. It is found that the sedimentation stability of natural oils based MRFs are relatively better than silicone oil based MRFs for the same concentration of magnetic particles. There is potential of these natural oils based MRFs to replace the conventional MRFs However, other rheological properties like yield strength, flow characteristics etc. needs further investigation.

KEYWORDS

Magnetorheological fluids, Green Magnetorheological fluid, Natural oils, Mahua oil, Simarouba oil, Sedimentation stability