SEMINAR

ABSTRACT
ELECTRODYNAMICS
18MSPH2H03
Krishna Agarwal

Date-12/03/2020
SMART FLUIDS

The fluids which change some of its physical properties according to the application of
electric input, such fluids are known as smart fluids.

These types of fluids can be categorized in 4 types according to the Input

1. Electro-Rheological (ER) Fluids.

2. Magneto-Rheological (MR) Fluids.
3. Magneto-Rheological Elastomer (MRE) Fluids.
4. Electro-Conjugate Fluids.

My talk will be limited to Electro-Rheological fluids, applications and why we use Magneto-
Rheological fluids over Electro-Rheological fluids.

The fluid which changes its property when external electric field is applied is Electro-
Rheological fluids. Electro-rheological fluid technology has been successfully employed
already in various low and high volume applications. Electro rheological (ER) fluids basically
consist of particles that are held in suspension by a non- conducting fluid. The suspending
liquid which should have a high electrical resistivity is typically low viscosity hydrocarbon
or silicone oil. The particles dispersed in this liquid are commonly metal oxides, alumino
silicates, silica, organics or polymers. A structure based on ER fluids might be the next
generation in design for products where power density, accuracy and dynamic performance
are the key features. Additionally, for products where is a need to control fluid motion by
varying the viscosity, a structure based on ER fluid might be an improvement in functionality
and costs. Two aspects of this technology, direct shear mode (used in brakes and clutches)
and valve mode (used in dampers) have been studied thoroughly and several applications are
already present on the market. Excellent features like fast response, simple interface
between electrical power input and mechanical power output, and precise controllability
make ER fluid technology attractive for many applications.

Despite of having so many applications there’s always a drawback of such fluids have particles
dispersed in carrier liquids have density and size much greater (in micrometers) than the size
and density of their constituent carrier fluid particles. Hence the increase in concentration of
such particles will cause setteling of particles in the carrier fluid which then will not return to
their free state when electric field is removed hence we lost the control of the fluid to
overcome such situations the particles size can be reduced to smaller (nanometers)
comparable to its carrier fluid particles but then such small particles will have less effect on
electric field so a new smart fluid was born Magneto-Rheological fluids (MR fluids).

Magneto-Rheological (MR) fluids belong to a class of smart fluids that exhibit dramatic but
reversible change in the fluid characteristics in response to applied magnetic field. It consists
of tiny ferromagnetic micro-particles suspended in carrier fluid. The MR fluid has the ability
to change from a fluid state to a semi-solid or plastic state instantaneously upon the
application of a magnetic field. The fluid exhibits visco-elastic behavior that is characterized
by the field dependent yield stress in this semi-solid state. This highly desired characteristic
of field dependent yield stress and their quick response time to the applied magnetic field
has drawn attention of thousands to harness such technology in many applications. MR fluid
technology has shown its presence in engineering and medical applications, though new
applications continue to evolve.

References:
 A Review on Electro-rheological (ER) Fluids And Its Applications By- [Dr.] S. S.
Gawade, A. A. Jadhav.

 Magneto-Rheological Fluids-A review on Characteristics, Devices and Applications

By-Gaurish A. Walke, Amol N. Patil, Saish Rivankar.

 https://nptel.ac.in Smart materials and smart structural control (lecture32 and lecture 36).