Wall material and roughness effects on transmittable shear stresses of magnetorheological fluids in plate–plate magnetorheometry

A direct comparison of plate–plate magnetorheometry results for nonmagnetic (titanium/brass) and ferromagnetic plates is presented, using a modified Anton Paar magnetocell MRD180/1T. Necessary corrections to derive the true flux density in the magnetorheological fluid (MRF) from the online Hall probe reading and to account for the gap opening effect caused by normal forces on shear stress and flux density are addressed. The measured shear stress versus magnetic flux density characteristics agree in the low flux density regime <0.1 T but yield distinctly higher transmittable shear stresses for ferromagnetic plates at elevated flux densities (49% increase at 1 T for 90% by weight carbonyl iron powder (CIP) and 84% for 85% by weight CIP). Remarkably, the normal force, if corrected for its magnetostatic part, remains independent of the type of plates up to about 0.6 T. We address the role of normal forces, of magnetic interactions between CIP and wall, as well as the role of wall roughness in a solid body friction model. A systematic variation of wall properties and materials was achieved by introducing both a modular rotor and stator, which ease the variation of the walls in contact to the MRF. The transmittable shear stress of nonmagnetic plates (e.g., brass) may be increased up to the level of ferromagnetic disks by a higher wall roughness or by grooves. No shear stress increase is obtained for grooves in ferromagnetic plates, which is explained by the different local flux density modulation at the grooves for ferromagnetic compared to nonmagnetic plates. Finally, we address the effect of ferromagnetic and nonmagnetic coatings on brass and steel disks, and show that, e.g., a layer of CIP on brass efficiently increases the transmittable shear stress.