Smart fluid
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A smart fluid is a fluid whose properties (e.g. viscosity) can be changed by applying an electric field or a magnetic field.
The most developed smart fluids today are fluids whose viscosity increases when a magnetic field is applied. Small magnetic dipoles are suspended in a non-magnetic fluid, and the applied magnetic field causes these small magnets to line up and form strings that increase the viscosity. These
.Some haptic devices whose resistance to touch can be controlled are also based on these MR fluids.
Another major type of smart fluid are
Other smart fluids change their
Background
The properties of smart fluids have been known for around sixty years, but were subject to only sporadic investigations up until the 1990s, when they were suddenly the subject of renewed interest, notably culminating with the use of an MR fluid on the suspension of the 2002 model of the Cadillac Seville STS automobile and more recently, on the suspension of the second-generation Audi TT. Other applications include brakes and seismic dampers, which are used in buildings in seismically-active zones to damp the oscillations occurring in an earthquake. Since then it appears that interest has waned a little, possibly due to the existence of various limitations of smart fluids which have yet to be overcome.[citation needed]
See also
- Continuum mechanics
- Electrorheological fluid
- Ferrofluid
- Fluid mechanics
- Magnetorheological fluid
- Rheology
- Smart glass
- Smart metal