relation: https://khub.utp.edu.my/scholars/14281/ title: Effects of petroleum-based oils as dispersing aids on physicochemical characteristics of magnetorheological elastomers creator: Zaki, N.M. creator: Yunus, N.A. creator: Yusoff, M.S. creator: Mazlan, S.A. creator: Aziz, S.A.A. creator: Izni, N.A. creator: Bahiuddin, I. description: This paper investigated the effects of petroleum-based oils (PBOs) as a dispersing aid on the physicochemical characteristics of natural rubber (NR)-based magnetorheological elastomers (MREs). The addition of PBOs was expected to overcome the low performance of magnetorheological (MR) elastomers due to their inhomogeneous dispersion and the mobility of magnetic particles within the elastomer matrix. The NR-based MREs were firstly fabricated by mixing the NR compounds homogeneously with different ratios of naphthenic oil (NO), light mineral oil (LMO), and paraffin oil (PO) to aromatic oil (AO), with weight percentage ratios of 100:0, 70:30, 50:50, and 30:70, respectively. From the obtained results, the ratios of NO mixed with low amounts of AO improved the material physicochemical characteristics, such as thermal properties. Meanwhile, LMO mixed the AO led to the best results for curing characteristics, microstructure observation, and magnetic properties of the MREs. We found that the LMO mixed with a high content of AO could provide good compatibility between the rubber molecular and magnetic particles due to similar chemical structures, which apparently enhance the physicochemical characteristics of MREs. In conclusion, the 30:70 ratio of LMO:AO is considered the preferable dispersing aid for MREs due to structural compounds present in the oil that enhance the physicochemical characteristics of the NR-based MREs. © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. publisher: MDPI date: 2021 type: Article type: PeerReviewed identifier: Zaki, N.M. and Yunus, N.A. and Yusoff, M.S. and Mazlan, S.A. and Aziz, S.A.A. and Izni, N.A. and Bahiuddin, I. (2021) Effects of petroleum-based oils as dispersing aids on physicochemical characteristics of magnetorheological elastomers. Materials, 14 (22). ISSN 19961944 relation: https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85119718093&doi=10.3390%2fma14227026&partnerID=40&md5=1a61af464826c9ae8b143ece583e9ceb relation: 10.3390/ma14227026 identifier: 10.3390/ma14227026