Analysis of the flow behavior of electrorheological fluids with the aligned structure reformation

A new rheological model is applied to the analysis of the behavior of electrorheological (ER) fluids. A comparison of the model’s predictions with experimental data shows that the proposed model correctly predicts the shear stress behavior both quantitatively and qualitatively. The shear stress data for the aligned particles’ structure reformation can be fitted as a function of shear rate with the new model. Proposed model using less parameters than CCJ model affords good agreement with the experimental data and consistent parameter values through the whole shear rate range and different applied electric field strengths. Furthermore, the yield stress was found to be almost linearly dependent on the field strength, different from the predictions of the polarization model.