Analysis of particle-particle forces in electrorheological fluids

The Rayleigh identity, based on a multipole expansion theory, is extended to analyse the forces between particles in an electrorheological system. The shear modulus for chains of particles arrayed on a square lattice is calculated. It is found that the modulus increases linearly with the ratio of dielectric constants of the dispersed particles to that of the continuous phase; as the ratio becomes larger, contrary to the expectations from a simple dipole approximation, the modulus would saturate. In the case of conducting particles, the modulus varies with the frequency of the applied field. In a limiting case of perfectly conducting particles, the conductivity is also considered. It is found that the particle-particle forces are extremely sensitive to their separations from each other.