Shear thickening fluid based on silica with neodymium oxide nanoparticles

Abstract

The rheological performance of shear thickening fluid (STF) based on silica with neodymium oxide nanoparticles ($\hbox {Nd}_{2}\hbox {O}_{3}\hbox {/SiO}_{2}\hbox {-STF}$) was investigated in this study. $\hbox {Nd}_{2}\hbox {O}_{3}\hbox {/SiO}_{2}\hbox {-STF}$ suspensions of varied concentrations (9–15 wt%) were prepared using an ultrasonic oscillator. The presence of $\hbox {Nd}_{2}\hbox {O}_{3}$ particle and its interaction with silica nanoparticles in the $\hbox {Nd}_{2}\hbox {O}_{3}\hbox {/SiO}_{2}\hbox {-STF}$ were analysed using scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffractometry and energy dispersive spectroscopy. $\hbox {Nd}_{2}\hbox {O}_{3}\hbox {/SiO}_{2}$ interaction demonstrated that silica nanoparticle could be completely attached on the needle branches of the $\hbox {Nd}_{2}\hbox {O}_{3}$ particles, and formed a considerable clustering effect. The steady rheological testing results indicated that an appropriate amount of $\hbox {Nd}_{2}\hbox {O}_{3}$ particle resulted in a marked increase in the peak viscosity from 51.95 ($\hbox {SiO}_{2}\hbox {-STF}$) to 218.94 Pa.s ($\hbox {Nd}_{2}\hbox {O}_{3}\hbox {/SiO}_{2}\hbox {-STF}$), and a concomitant decrease in the critical shear rate from 199.65 ($\hbox {SiO}_{2}\hbox {-STF}$) to $\hbox {50.18 s}^{-1}$ ($\hbox {Nd}_{2}\hbox {O}_{3}\hbox {/SiO}_{2}\hbox {-STF}$). Moreover, although the peak viscosity declined with the rise in temperature, shear thickening was remarkable compared to those of $\hbox {SiO}_{2}\hbox {-STF}$ and became highly remarkable with $\hbox {Nd}_{2}\hbox {O}_{3}$ particle mass fraction increase.