HIGH-FREQUENCY DYNAMIC MECHANICAL STUDY OF AN ALUMINOSILICATE ELECTRORHEOLOGICAL MATERIAL

An electrorheological (ER) material composed of aluminosilicate particles in paraffin oil is studied for its response to sinusoidally oscillating shear strains of frequencies in the range of 300-400 Hz. The response of the material is linear viscoelastic when subjected to electric fields in the range of 0.0-3.0 kV/mm. The linear viscoelastic parameters-shear loss modulus, shear storage modulus, and loss tangent-were calculated and related to the strength of the field applied to the material. The moduli were found to increase with increasing applied field and the loss tangent decreased with increasing applied field. Finally, a nonlinear data correlator program was used to simulate the ER material's shear loss modulus as a function of frequency when modeling the ER material using the constitutive equations for a three-parameter solid.