Bistability and "negative" viscosity for a suspension of insulating particles in an electric field

Phys Rev Lett. 2004 Jan 23;92(3):034501. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.92.034501. Epub 2004 Jan 22.

Abstract

It is shown that a suspension of insulating particles in a liquid with low conductivity possesses bistability and has a "negative" effective viscosity effect in the electric field due to internal rotations. By Brownian dynamics simulation it has been found that thermal fluctuations of the angular velocity of particles in this bistable system can have a large effect on the viscosity of the suspension.