Homogeneous Electrorheological Fluids Applied to Vibration Control

The purpose Electrorheological (ER) fluids are capable of providing continuously variable damping forces in response to an electrical stimulus. Many prototype ER dampers, described in the literature, have been based upon exploiting the variable shear properties of ER fluids. Recently, an alternative mode of operation, namely squeeze-flow, has been identified and investigated. Furthermore, most of these investigations have been carried out using various particle-dispersion ER fluids. This paper is concerned with an experimental investigation of the performance of a homogeneous electrorheological (ER) fluid in an oscillatory squeeze-flow. The fluid is sandwiched between two parallel plane circular electrodes, the upper one fixed and the lower one oscillating normal to its plane. Of particular interest is the temporal variation in the force transmitted through the fluid in response to changes in the oscillation frequency and the applied voltage. In addition, the effect of temperature changes on the response of this fluid and the relevance of the work in the application to vibration control are discussed.