Comparison of the rheological properties of electrorheological fluids at between shear and flow mode: a new scanning electrorheometer

A new scanning electrorheometer is presented, based on a single measurement of liquid height variation with respect to time. The apparatus consisting mainly of a pressure vessel, an ER-channel, and a CCD camera connected with computer is described with the experimental procedure. The present method overcomes one of major drawbacks of the viscometer, the inability to produce yield stress in a low shear rate range. The present results with the rheometer is compared with those of the commercially available rheometer and showed an excellent agreement with them.