Magnetically induced flow channel design for characterizing magnetorheological fluids in adaptive rehabilitation devices for individuals with disabilities

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Abstract
Magnetorheological (MR) fluids are smart materials that can change their rheological properties when a magnetic field is applied. This makes them useful in adaptive engineering systems like rehabilitation devices, robotics, and vibration control systems. It is important to accurately describe how MR fluids flow in a field-dependent way in order to design these kinds of systems well. However, regular rheometers are often limited by their high cost, large sample volume requirements, and limited ability to see internal flow phenomena. This study shows a magnetically induced micro channel flow platform that was made as a small measurement system to study Bingham-plastic MR fluids under controlled magnetic excitation. The platform uses a modified Hagen–Poiseuille model to estimate shear stress by combining electromagnetic field generation, microfluidic flow control, and pressure-based measurement. We took experimental measurements at set flow rates and magnetic field strengths and compared them to reference data from a commercial parallel-plate rheometer. The results show that they are within 20% of each other at lower flow velocities. At higher velocities, the differences are due to flow instability and particle aggregation. The proposed platform offers a cheap and low-volume way to characterize that can help with the design and improvement of adaptive rehabilitation devices that use MR fluids.
Funding Information
  • King Salman Center for Disability Research (KSRG-2024-365)

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