Mechanical properties of silicone composites reinforced with micron- and nano-sized magnetic particles

Silicone composites filled with different-sized nickel particles were prepared. By applying a permanent magnet, both the micron- and nano-sized particles were found to distribute along the magnetic field direction, resulting in chain-like microstructures, which improved the key mechanical properties of the resultant samples effectively, compared to the samples with randomly-distributed particles. The composites were also tested under various magnetic field strengths. The samples with aligned particles showed larger improvements in shear storage modulus than those with random particles.