Confirmation of water mechanism in zeolite electrorheological fluid by dielectric spectroscopy

Zeolite electrorheological(ER) liquids with different amounts of adsorbed water were measured by dielectric spectroscopy, and the dielectric parameters of every system were fitted by Cole-Cole equation. The permittivity of the dispersed particle was found to increase with adsorbed water increasing, however, the dielectric increment of the ER liquid was independent on the adsorbed water. Considering the relationship between interfacial polarization and ER effect, the previous permittivity mechanism of adsorbed water was confirmed to be unsuitable to zeolite ER liquids. Based on analyzing the relaxation times of different systems, the dielectric loss mechanism was proposed to explain the positive effect of adsorbed water on the ER behavior of zeolite/oil suspension.