Exploring the potential of induced dipole-dominated electrorheological effect: advancing ER elastomers

Prior research has predominantly focused on traditional electrorheological (ER) effects while overlooking the transformative potential of induced dipoles in enhancing the overall performance of ER materials. In this study, we introduced a novel type of ER elastomer called induced dipole-dominated ER elastomer (ID-ERE). Through high-energy ball milling (HEBM) of the filler particles, the oxygen vacancies were produced within the particles that acted as local charge centers. In the presence of an external electric field (E), these oxygen vacancies induced the dipoles with significant dipole moments, thus amplifying the local electric field E_L within the particle gaps. The powerful interactions of these dipoles significantly improved the overall performance of elastomer; the phenomenon referred to as the ID-ER effect. The viscoelastic results showed that ID-EREs have high field-induced storage modulus (G’ = 395.7 kPa), a significant increment in storage modulus (ΔG’ = 270.5 kPa) and high relative ER effect (ΔG’/G0 = 217.2%) at 3 kV mm⁻¹. Additionally, after testing ID-EREs viscoelastic properties, it was discovered that excessive powder content leads to a decline in the elastomer’s performance. The results showed that ID-ERE’s viscoelastic, mechanical, dielectric, and overall efficiency is finer than the control ER elastomer (C-ERE) having unmilled TiO₂ particles. Besides, the preparation method is straightforward, easily replicated, scalable, and cost effective. Thus, these ID-EREs should be a new generation of elastomer with the potential to be used in various automotive, robotics, construction, and electroactive actuators industries.