3a01 Electro-Rheological Effect of Liquid Crystalline Siloxane Derivatives

Abstract

Electro-rheological (ER) fluids whose viscosity is controlled by applied electric field strength have been widely studied as smart materials for industrial utilities. We have studied ER effect of the liquid crystalline (LC) materials which have various siloxane cores. It has been found that the response time of the viscosity to the applied electric fields and the increase of the viscosity depended greatly on their molecular structure. We demonstrate the characteristic phenomena on ER effect of the siloxane LC materials.