Introduction to n-body simulation of magnetorheological elastomer (MRE) microstructure forming process

Magnetorheological elastomers (MREs) are the materials with rheological properties which can be changed in a continuous way, rapidly and reversibly by the applied magnetic field. They are the solid analogues of magnetorheological fluids (MRFs), consisting of magnetically permeable particles (such as iron) added to a viscoelastic polymeric material prior to crosslinking. In the paper the introduction to the n-body simulation of the MRE microstructure forming process is presented. First, the basics of the n-body problem are presented as the planar three-body problem. It is well known, that the planar three-body problem is the problem describing the motion of three point masses in the plane under their mutual Newtonian gravitation. In the paper it is shown how that problem will be applied to the simulation of the phenomena that appeared when the external magnetic field is applied to the chaotically mixed iron particles in the liquid elastomer. Also the physical model of the interactions occurred in such structures are described. The assumptions shown in the paper will be then used for the development of the computer program which calculates the interactions between iron dipoles and describes the movement of the particles in the liquid elastomer under the magnetic field.