Field responsive shear thickening fluid
OwnerMark R. Jolly, Jonathan W. Benderinventors
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Abstract
An active controllable, shear thickening, field responsive device is disclosed and contains a fluid including a carrier component and at least about 40 percent by volume, based on the total volume of the fluid, of a particle component. The fluid can comprise either a field responsive dispersed particle component or a field responsive carrier. The field responsive dispersed phase fluid comprises magnetic- or electrical-responsive particles having a specified average particle size. When subjected to a predetermined shear rate and, optionally, a predetermined magnetic or electrical field, the shear thickening composition undergoes a dramatic and substantial increase in viscosity and shear stress over a very short time period.
Claims33
A method for controlling motion comprising applying an electrical or magnetic field to a confined field-responsive fluid under shearing or displacement force, said fluid operative at the interface between a drive member and a driven member,
- changing the motion of said driven member by shifting the critical shear rate of said field-responsive fluid in response to a change in field intensity.
A variable energy dissipation device comprising:
- (a) a first and second member, said first member movable with respect to said second member;
- (b) a gap containing a field-responsive fluid capable of flow, flow of said fluid within said gap being responsive to relative motion between said first and second member;
- (c) means for changing the magnitude of an electrical or magnetic field within said gap,
- wherein said energy dissipation between said first and said second member is controlled by a change in the critical shear rate of the fluid responsive to a change in the magnitude of said field.
A method for increasing the shear stress of a field responsive fluid comprising (a) mixing magnetic- or electrical-responsive particles having an average particle size distribution of 100 nm to 3000 nm with carrier fluid component so that the resulting field responsive fluid includes more than 50 percent by volume, based on the total volume of the fluid, of the particles and (b) subjecting the field responsive fluid to a shearing force and a magnetic or electrical field.
A method for reducing the viscosity and suppressing the onset shear rate of a shear thickening fluid comprising mixing electrical- or magnetic-responsive particles into the fluid and subjecting the fluid to an electrical or magnetic field.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.