Review : Material Aspects of Electrorheological Systems

This paper provides a summary of the current state of electrorheological (ER) material research and development. In particular, a description of the electrorheological effect, a defini tion of observed behavior, a critique of the proposed mechanisms for the ER phenomenon, correlations among the properties exhib ited by ER materials, an overview of the various test methodolo gies for characterizing ER materials, and a discussion of the re quirements imposed by specific applications is presented. Inherent throughout this paper are references to the properties exhibited by currently available, state-of-the-art ER materials. In order to facili tate the design of devices and to evaluate the effectiveness of a par ticular ER material in a specific application, it is necessary that experimental data reported for each material be consistent in terminology and test methodology. A recommendation as to the minimum amount of mechanical/electrical property information needed to adequately evaluate an ER material is provided.