12/15/03

 Graduate Students

Javier Gomez

gomez@che.udel.edu

Graduate Student

Shine Research Group

Chemical Engineering Department

Ph (302) 831-0447

Fax (302) 831-1048

 Education

Research Interests

Channel Flow of Electrorheological Solutions

An electrorheological (ER) fluid possesses the ability to increase considerably their shear viscosity and/or modulus upon the application of an electric field. Traditionally, ER fluids have been composed of solid polarizable particles suspended in a non-conducting liquid with a high dielectric strength. Suspension ER fluids have major drawbacks in practical applications, namely, particle sedimentation, sensitivity to water, low transmitted shear stress and others.

Liquid crystalline polymers (LCP) are a good candidate for replacing suspension ER fluids. More specifically, poly(n-hexyl isocyanate) (PHIC) is a LCP which exhibits increases of about 100 times its shear viscosity upon the application of an electric field. This makes PHIC solutions a great improvement over other suspensions ER fluids, which require more power and are less effective.

Our research group has pioneered in the study of LCP solutions as a potential single-phase ER fluid. But, not until now the behavior of those solutions were studied in real-world applications in order to prove their performance. In this project, the pressure-driven electrorheological flow of PHIC solutions will be characterized experimentally in simple and complex channels. These channel flow experiments will determine the suitability of homogeneous ER fluids for use as hydraulic fluids in microfluidic valves.