Kathleen O. Havelka

Novel Materials for Electrorheological Fluids

Since Willis Winslow’s discovery in the late 1930s, the field of electrorheology has emerged as a multidisciplinary technology that has captured the imagination of scientists and engineers world-wide.1,2 An electrorheological (ER) fluid typically consists of a dispersion of particles in an insulating oil. The rheological properties of an ER fluid are electric field dependent. ER fluids demonstrate orders of magnitude changes in apparent viscosity in milliseconds, for a few watts of electrical power. This fast, strong, and reversible gelation provides a novel and efficient way to control motion.