The Role of Interfacial Polarization in the Electrorheological Effects

Abstract

The conductive, dielectric and surface properties of severl water-free polymer or inorganic material based ER fluids, as well as their response times, are investigated to elucidate the physical ground of the electrorheological effect. It is found that the slow polarization, especially the interfacial polarization rather than the Debye polarization, should be responsible for the observed phenomena. Combining with the recent achievements (both theoretical and experimental) in the electrorheological field, we argue that is the interfacial polarization that does play a central role in electrorheological response. The particle re-orientation process is actually resulted from the large interfacial polarization.