Experimental investigation of the vibration characteristics of a magnetorheological elastomer sandwich beam under non-homogeneous small magnetic fields

In this study, a magnetorheological elastomer (MRE) was manufactured and tested, and a MRE sandwich beam was also fabricated from a MRE between two thin aluminum layers. An experimental test rig was set up to investigate the vibration response of the MRE sandwich beam under a non-homogeneous magnetic field. The experimental results show that the first natural frequency of the MRE sandwich beam decreased as the magnetic field applied to the beam was moved from the clamped end of the beam to the free end of the beam. It is also noted that the MRE sandwich beam had the capability to left shift the first natural frequency when the magnetic field was increased in the activated regions.