A PRIMARY X-RAY-INVESTIGATION OF THE TURNING OF FERROELECTRIC MICROSPHERES CONTAINED IN ELECTRORHEOLOGICAL FLUIDS UNDER A DIRECT-CURRENT ELECTRIC-FIELD

An x-ray diffraction method is introduced to probe the turning of ferr oelectric singlecrystal microspheres suspended in electrorheological ( ER) fluids. The microspheres used in the experiment have their permane nt dipoles polarized in the same direction. Our initial results show t hat the x-ray diffraction amplitude in some crystal planes will increa se when a fixed de electric field is applied to the ER fluids. We argu e that the enhancement of the diffraction is due to the reorientation of the crystal planes which is caused by the turning of the permanent dipoles in the ferroelectric microspheres under an external electric f ield. The particle turning has not attracted much attention in the pas t. We propose that further work should be performed. (C) 1996 American Institute of Physics.