Experimental study of the rheological behavior of electrorheological fluids

Abstract

Recently, electrorheological fluids (ERFs) have emerged as a potential technology forimplementing semi-active control in smart structure and vehicle applications to efficientlysuppress vibration. The rheological behavior of ERFs under an electric field is important inengineering application. The work described here involves experimental research into therheological behavior, under a variety of electric fields, of three kinds of ERF:(C6H10O5)n,TiO2–CeCl3,and SrTiO3/PANI (PANI = polyaniline). We aim to design a high-performance ERF and display an ER effect.Results show that different kinds of ERF have different yield properties, especially underthe conditions of both post-yield and higher shear rates. In terms of the trend in behaviorof the ER effect shown in the experimental curves, the expression for the relation betweendynamic shear stress and static yield stress has also been investigated. Both the highestnegative and the highest positive differential values have been obtained. We also showthat apparent viscosity shows three different trends in behavior, based on at-linestart, non-linear power-law and Bingham power-law (Sisco) flow behavior. Therelative variation values of ERFs at low and high shear rates, respectively, areshown.