Experimental Study on Electrorheological Performance of a Composite Material

By using SrTiO3/PANI as a dispersed phase and silicone oil as a dispersion medium, the rheological characteristic of the dispersion medium under an electric field and the ERF performances of the mixture of SrTiO3/PANI composite particles and silicone oil under different dispersed phase consistencies and different medium viscosities have been investigated. The measurements of the rheological characteristic, that is the shear stress of ERF, under shearing flow were performed with a Couette-type rheometer manufactured by HAAKE. It is proved that the rheological characteristic of the dispersion medium follows Newtonian fluid viscosity law and the ERF rheological characteristic of the mixture of the dispersion medium and dispersed phase obeys Bingham fluid model under electric field. The experimental result shows that the effects of different phase consistencies and different dispersion medium viscosities on ERF performances are great. The testing expressions of shear stress vs. electric field under different conditions have been obtained by polynomial fit, which is the theory foundation of application in engineering.