Life-Cycle Evaluation of Anisotropic Particle-Based Magnetorheological Fluid in MR Brake Performance

The work reports the life-cycle test of flake-shaped particle-based magnetorheological (MR) fluid using the MR brake system and evaluated the performance of brake. The choice of the application is based on the understanding that normal force in this case is zero and the same is not true for other applications. Thus, it will exhibit only shear-induced deformation/degradation of MR fluid properties. The test was performed under a constant magnetic field for 10(5)cycles at 300 rpm. The MR fluid collected after cyclic operation exhibits no change in surface morphology as well as MR properties. Thus, the torque transmission even after this cycle remains the same. This is not the same when commercially available spherical particle-based MR fluid is used. There is a decrement in the torque transmission of MR brake by similar to 30%. The results are discussed on the basis of MR effect and the change in surface morphology of particles. The results confirm that the use of flake-shaped-based MR fluid gives better performance when used for long-term application.