A relationship between dielectric permittivity of the nematic continuous phase material and the shear stresses of electro-rheological fluids containing liquid crystalline materials

Further investigations into the behaviour of electro-rheological fluids containing liquid crystalline materials have been made. Dramatic changes in the shear stresses of such suspensions have been observed around the temperature at which the liquid crystalline component undergoes a change of phase from the nematic to the isotropic phase. The temperature profile of shear stress is predicted to be mirrored by that of the mean dielectric permittivity of the liquid crystalline component in the electro-rheological fluid.