Unidirectional compression of electrorheological fluids in electric fields

A series of unidirectional compression tests on electrorheological fluids has been carried out with different plate sizes, initial plate separations, and applied voltages. Experimental results of compression pressure were compared with the continuum non-Newtonian squeeze-flow theory in a normalized form. It was found that the compression resistance of the electrorheological fluid in an electric field was much higher than that predicted by the theory when the fluid was compressed to some extent and/or when the initial plate separation was relatively small. Characteristics of the pressure variation with the reduction in electrode gap width have been analyzed, and the compression behaviors under different experimental conditions have been discussed in terms of the morphology of particle aggregations under compression. © 2005 American Institute of Physics. DOI: 10.1063/1.2064310