CONDUCTIVE MODEL OF PARTICLES INTERACTION IN AN ELECTRORHEOLOGICAL FLUID

We first recall that under D. C. conditions, the electrorheological effect is mainly determined by the conduction properties of both the solid particles and the carrying liquid. We report on measurements of the attraction force between two very slightly conducting half-spheres immersed in a liquid of very weak but controlled conductivity. The results confirm the occurrence of two regimes of variation of the force as a function of the electric field. Estimates of the force in the general case when GAMMA, the ratio of solid and liquid conductivities, takes any value larger than unity fairly well account for the observations.