Structure and dynamics of electrorheological fluids

We have used two-dimensional light scattering to study the structure and dynamics of a single-scattering electrorheological fluid in the quiescent state and in steady and oscillatory shear. Studies of the quiescent fluid show that particle columns grow in two stages. Particles first chain along the electric field, causing scattering lobes to appear orthogonal to the field, and then aggregate into columns, causing the scattering lobes to move to smaller angles. Column formation can be understood in terms of a thermal coarsening model we present, whereas the early-time scattering in the direction parallel to the field can be compared to the theory of line liquids. In simple shear the scattering lobes are inclined in the direction of fluid vorticity, in detailed agreement with the independent droplet model of the shear thinning viscosity. In oscillatory shear the orientation of the scattering lobes varies nonsinusoidally. This nonlinear dynamics is described by a kinetic chain model, which provides a theory of the nonlinear shear rheology in arbitrary shear flows.