Shear thickening fluids have found many applications in energy damping materials such as sports guards and liquid body armors. Therefore, an additive which could tailor the dilatant properties of such fluids without significantly affecting other properties, especially zero shear viscosity, could significantly increase the versatility of protective materials based on shear thickening fluids. In this paper, poly(propylene glycols) (PPGs) diacetates are investigated as dilatant effect enhancers for nano-silica dispersions in poly(propylene glycols). The influence of the modifiers on rheological properties of the dispersion is studied and discussed. Additionally, FTIR and rheological properties measurements are conducted in order to determine relative interactions strength between hydroxyl groups of PPGs and silica and carbonyl groups of PPG diacetates. Our findings suggest that the relative attractive interaction strength in studied systems can be arranged in the following order: COCO < COOH < OHOH. Therefore, the addition of PPG diacetate hinders the attractive interactions between liquid and solid. We report that the addition of diacetates can lead both to enhancement and deterioration of dilatant effect depending on the concentration of the modifier and its chain length. Based on conducted measurements and literature data, mechanism explaining that phenomenon is suggested. As a result, we propose an easy to make and cheap dilatant effect enhancer for widely used shear thickening fluids which, when used in small amounts (1–2.5%), raises the viscosity jump drastically. Additionally, the presence of the modifier does not significantly affect the zero shear viscosity of the shear thickening fluid.

剪切增稠流体已在能量阻尼材料（例如运动护具和液体防弹衣）中得到了许多应用。因此，可以在不显着影响其他性能（尤其是零剪切粘度）的情况下调整此类流体的膨胀特性的添加剂，可以显着提高基于剪切增稠流体的保护材料的多功能性。在本文中，研究了聚（丙二醇）（PPG）二乙酸酯作为纳米二氧化硅在聚（丙二醇）中的分散体的扩胀效果增强剂。研究和讨论了改性剂对分散体流变性能的影响。此外，进行FTIR和流变性能测量，以确定PPG与二氧化硅的羟基和PPG二乙酸酯的羰基之间的相对相互作用强度。我们的发现表明，在研究的系统中，相对吸引的相互作用强度可以按以下顺序排列：CO C O <C O OH <OH OH。因此，PPG二乙酸酯的加入阻碍了液体和固体之间的吸引作用。我们报告说，根据改性剂的浓度及其链长，添加双乙酸盐会导致膨胀效果的增强和降低。根据进行的测量和文献数据，提出了解释该现象的机理。因此，我们为广泛使用的剪切增稠流体提出了一种易于制造且便宜的膨胀效果增强剂，当少量使用（1-2.5％）时，粘度增强剂会急剧增加。另外，改性剂的存在不会显着影响剪切增稠流体的零剪切粘度。