Characteristics of a yield stress scaling function for electrorheological fluids

The electrorheological (ER) fluids exhibit a drastic change in rheological and electrical properties. Among these properties, yield stress is one of the critical evaluation parameters of the performance of ER devices. The published experimental data of yield dependence on the electric field strength and particle volume fraction are inconsistent due to the time dependence of material properties and measuring conditions. hi this paper, we present a universal function, descriptive of the normalized yield stress, via scaling of the applied electric field strength. This scaling equation hybridizes both the polarization and conductivity models. Yield stress data for various ER fluids are collapsed onto a single curve for a broad range of electric field strengths, suggesting that the proposed scaling equation is adequate for predicting the ER property. Furthermore, the yield stresses, obtained from two different measuring techniques (static and dynamic methods), were also examined.