ABSTRACT
Th e history and background of electrorheological (ER) fl uids are covered in the 2000 version of Smart Materials. This chapter focuses on those areas which might be considered a signifi cant advancement in the fi eld. Some of these were covered in the 2000 edition but at that time they may have been just speculation but have evolved to be more accepted within the area and more of a general concern to interested people. For the sake of space, many references were not included because they maybe redundant. However, main ones are given, which will allow interested parties to search for other relevant articles. It should be added that this includes information, which was presented at the 10th International Conference on ER/MR held in July 2006 and as such may not as yet be published except in the proceedings of the meeting. It should also be noticed that even though the title of this chapter is “current developments,” many of the references are not current. Th e purpose of this is to give adequate recognition to those with insight who may have recognized things years ago that are just beginning to be considered.
