Effect of titanium diboride on the rheological characteristics of silica-based polyethylene glycol shear thickening fluid

Abstract

The rheological characterization of STFs plays an essential role in understanding the suspension’s stability and the structural changes that occur under the impact of shear forces. This study aims to investigate the rheological behavior of STF after adding titanium diboride (TiB₂) as an additive. STF modified with 2 % w/W TiB₂ compared to other concentrations (1 %, 1.25 %, and 3 %) showed a maximum rise in viscosity (max), i.e., 18,484 Pa s during steady state rheology, as compared to untreated STF. In dynamic rheology, the same sample demonstrated maximum values of G′ and G″ at a constant frequency of 30 rad/s, G′ and G″ improved by 25 and 11 times, respectively, over unmodified STF. Furthermore, for constant strain amplitudes, the maximum values of G′ and G″ were observed at a strain amplitude of 700 %. G′ and G″ improved by approximately 6.5 and 6 times over unmodified STF, respectively. The findings of the dynamic and steady-state rheological analyses demonstrated that integrating TiB₂ into the STF improved the ST behavior.