Electrorheological Fluids Response under Mechanical Testing

Abstract

In most research, ER fluids have been studied and characterized as if they were extremely viscous liquids. In this work, electrorheological fluids were characterized as solids and their mechanical properties in tensile, compression and shear tests were determined. Two different fluids were studied: one of them was made of starch in silicone fluid and the other was composed of carboxymethylcelullose (CMC) in silicone fluid. From the results we concluded that fluids made of CMC have a better performance than those made of starch and also that ER materials are more resistant to compression, tensile and shear stress, in this order. More precisely, ER fluids made of CMC have an elasticity modulus similar to that of rubber. They have tensile strength 600 to 104 times lower than that of LDPE (low density polyethylene) and static yield stress 1 O4 times lower than that of ABS (acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene terpolymer).