Preparation and electrorheological characteristics of poly(p-phenylene)-based suspensions

Poly(p-phenylene) (PPP) particles were synthesized from a bulk polymerizati on of benzene and then doped with FeCl3 in aqueous solution to control thei r electrical conductivity for their electrorheological (ER) application. Va rious concentrations of the aqueous FeCl3 were implemented to investigate t he effect of doping degree on ER performance, and the yield stress of an ER fluid, which is a typical characteristic of a Bingham fluid, was found to be related to both the applied electric field strength and the doping degre e. A universal scaling function was introduced to collapse all of the data. From dynamic experiments, it was also found that the semiconducting PPP-ba sed ER fluids exhibit characteristics of a viscoelastic solid, which increa ses with electric field strength and doping degree.