Magnetorheological visco-elastomer and its application to suppressing microvibration of sandwich plates

The micro-vibration control is necessary to vibration-sensitive precise apparatus and facilities under random environment disturbance. The composite structures with magneto-rheological visco-elastomer (MRVE) can effectively control the micro-vibration under certain external magnetic fields. In this paper, the fabrication of an MRVE by dispersing iron particles in viscous liquids, degassing the mixture and making it cured in molds is introduced firstly. The experimental study on the mechanical properties of MRVE and the effects of external magnetic field and vibration frequency on the MRVE properties is performed, and the results are given. Then the micro-vibration response of a sandwich plate with MRVE core under random support motion excitations is studied to evaluate its response reduction capacity. The differential equations of motion of the sandwich plate are derived from the dynamic equilibrium, constitutive and geometric relations. The Galerkin method is applied to convert the partial differential equations into ordinary differential equations. The expressions of frequency-response function, response power spectral density and root-mean-square velocity spectrum in terms of the one-third octave frequency band for micro-vibration are obtained and calculated. Finally, numerical results are given to illustrate the micro-vibration response reduction capacity of the MRVE sandwich plate under random support motion excitations.