Design, testing and modelling of a tuneable GER fluid damper under shear mode

Abstract

Smart materials, such as electrorheological (ER) and magnetorheological (MR) fluids, have been proven to be tuneable in terms of their mechanical properties and to be valuable in the application of vibration suppression. However, MR fluid has such disadvantages as sedimentation of particles and complexity of the magnetic field design. ER fluid is also difficult to apply for practical uses due to the limitation of the yield stress. Giant electrorheological (GER) fluid represented a large break-through in the yield stress with the ability to improve the performance of the mechanical properties. This advance facilitates the practical use of rheological fluids in the field of vibration suppression. In this paper, a GER fluid damper composed of multiple electrodes working in shear mode is proposed. When the GER fluid damper functions in shear mode, it simplifies the structural design and has the advantage of producing a high damping force with a low stiffness effect, which is beneficial for energy dissipation without influencing other mechanical performance parameters. The dynamic mechanical properties are measured experimentally. Based on this proposed damper, a mathematical model composed of the hysteretic formula, Stribeck effect and viscous formula is built, and the parameters are identified by the ant colony algorithm according to the experimental results. This model can describe both the hysteresis in the velocity-force curves and the force mutation in the low velocity region. Next, identified parameters are regressed, and the model is validated. Additionally, experiments on vibration suppression are conducted to verify the practical value of the GER fluid damper. The results illustrate that the vibration is significantly suppressed with a reduction of 91.03% by using the GER fluid damper, and the tuneable range reaches 43.8%.

Titanium Dioxide Nanoparticles Modified with Disulfonic Acid Functionalized Imidazolium Ionic Liquids for Use as Electrorheological Materials

“…After removing the electric field, the ER fluids return to their original liquid state. 9,10 The rapid and reversible electric-response of ER fluids under an external electric field allows them to be widely used in robots as a smart material, 11,12 damping devices, 13,14 microfluidic rectifiers, 15 tactile devices, 16 and in the polishing of precision parts. 17 Properties of both the dispersed phase and the continuous liquid materials are key factors affecting their properties in the research into ER components.…”

“…When an external electric field is applied, the dielectric particles are arranged in a chain columnar structure along the direction of the electric field, causing a rapid liquid–solid state transition and rapid increase of viscosity and modulus in the ER fluid. After removing the electric field, the ER fluids return to their original liquid state. , The rapid and reversible electric-response of ER fluids under an external electric field allows them to be widely used in robots as a smart material, , damping devices, , microfluidic rectifiers, tactile devices, and in the polishing of precision parts …”

Efficient and stable electrorheological fluids based on chestnut-like cobalt hydroxide coupled with surface-functionalized carbon dots

“…5 In 2003, Wen Weijia et al prepared a giant ERF (GERF) with a static yield stress of up to 130 kPa, making the application of ERFs possible. 6 The electrorheological efficiency of a silicone oil-based GERF is in the range of 6000–10 000, and the corresponding zero-field apparent viscosity is in the range of 1–2 Pa s. ERFs have been widely applied in the fields of microfluidic technology, 7,8 dampers, 9,10 actuators 11,12 and soft robots. 13,14 With the deepening of the ERF application research, it is found that mechanical properties are not the only conditions that limit the application of ERFs.…”

Vibration control of giant electrorheological damper combining nonlinear fractional-order controller and extended state observer

“…than 10 ms. In addition, compared to MRF, the GERF does not have to deal with issues such as optimized design of the magnetic circuit, coil heating and, most importantly, energy consumption [9,10]. By carefully designing and controlling the electric field with rigid or flexible electrodes of different materials, shapes, and dimensions, light-weight and compact GERF-based devices whose vibration isolation performance is completive with, or even better than, MRF-based ones became possible.…”