Shear dependent electrical property of conductive shear thickening fluid

Conductive shear thickening fluid (C-STF) consisting of SiO2 particles, carbon nanotube (CNT) and ethyl glycol (EG) was developed. The shear thickening effect of C-STF was strengthened with the increasing CNT mass fraction. Different from the traditional shear thickening fluid (STF), the as-prepared C-STF showed unique electrical property due to presence of the conductive doping CNT. The initial resistance of C-STF varied from 94 k Omega to 18 k Omega at different CNT mass fractions (0.1 wt%, 0.2 wt%, 0.3 wt% and 0.4 wt%). Moreover, the resistance could be critically decreased once accounting the unexpected shear and the decrements reached to as high as 90%. Meanwhile, the shear dependent impedance spectroscopies at different shear rates were analyzed and an equivalent circuit model was proposed to investigate the microstructure dependent electrical property. This phenomenon not only gave much valuable information for understanding the detail shear thickening mechanism but also broadened their application in anti-impact sensor. (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.