A study on the evaluation indicator of thixotropy of magnetorheological fluid

The evaluation indicator of thixotropy of magnetorheological (MR) fluid was studied by experiment.Experimental results show that,the thixotropic crack index which got from the relationship between apparent viscosity and shear rate has better testability and repeatability,and can be used as evaluation indicator of thixotropy of MR fluid.And as its test results also have good stability and possessing lots of performance information of MR fluid,thixotropic loop can also be used as evaluation indicator of thixotropy.Moreover,lower shear rate and shorter duration are apt to get distinct thixotropic loop.