Shear thickening fluid based on silica with neodymium oxide nanoparticles

Abstract

The rheological performance of shear thickening fluid (STF) based on silica with neodymium oxide nanoparticles ( $$\hbox {Nd}_{2}\hbox {O}_{3}\hbox {/SiO}_{2}\hbox {-STF}$$ ) was investigated in this study. $$\hbox {Nd}_{2}\hbox {O}_{3}\hbox {/SiO}_{2}\hbox {-STF}$$ suspensions of varied concentrations (9–15 wt%) were prepared using an ultrasonic oscillator. The presence of $$\hbox {Nd}_{2}\hbox {O}_{3}$$ particle and its interaction with silica nanoparticles in the $$\hbox {Nd}_{2}\hbox {O}_{3}\hbox {/SiO}_{2}\hbox {-STF}$$ were analysed using scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffractometry and energy dispersive spectroscopy. $$\hbox {Nd}_{2}\hbox {O}_{3}\hbox {/SiO}_{2}$$ interaction demonstrated that silica nanoparticle could be completely attached on the needle branches of the $$\hbox {Nd}_{2}\hbox {O}_{3}$$ particles, and formed a considerable clustering effect. The steady rheological testing results indicated that an appropriate amount of $$\hbox {Nd}_{2}\hbox {O}_{3}$$ particle resulted in a marked increase in the peak viscosity from 51.95 ( $$\hbox {SiO}_{2}\hbox {-STF}$$ ) to 218.94 Pa.s ( $$\hbox {Nd}_{2}\hbox {O}_{3}\hbox {/SiO}_{2}\hbox {-STF}$$ ), and a concomitant decrease in the critical shear rate from 199.65 ( $$\hbox {SiO}_{2}\hbox {-STF}$$ ) to $$\hbox {50.18 s}^{-1}$$ ( $$\hbox {Nd}_{2}\hbox {O}_{3}\hbox {/SiO}_{2}\hbox {-STF}$$ ). Moreover, although the peak viscosity declined with the rise in temperature, shear thickening was remarkable compared to those of $$\hbox {SiO}_{2}\hbox {-STF}$$ and became highly remarkable with $$\hbox {Nd}_{2}\hbox {O}_{3}$$ particle mass fraction increase.