MOLECULAR ORIENTATION AND ELECTROHYDRODYNAMIC FLOW IN HOMOGENEOUS ER FLUIDS

Abstract

Homogeneous ER fluid is an ER fluid which consists of a homogeneous fluid only; it is neither a suspension nor a blend of immiscible liquids. Various liquid crystals are typical examples of homogeneous ER fluids. Recently, we have found that urethane-modified polypropylene glycol (UPPG) is one of the very few examples of homogeneous ER fluids which show no liquid crystalline order. In order to clarify the mechanism of the ER effect in this fluid, we have studied, in this paper, electrohydrodynamic flow under shear and electric field.