From Viscosity to Dielectric Breakdown: A Review of Rheoelectricity and Its Tribological Impact

The electrical and magnetic properties of lubricants, along with their rheological properties, have always played an undeniable role in predicting the failure mechanisms of electromechanical equipment such as EVs. This article attempted to classify lubricants based on their performance with a criterion such as shear stability and resulting rheological models with two assumptions of the shear stress dependence/independence to shear rate, defining different lubricants rheological properties, and expressing their interaction outcome along with influence degree of environmental components such as local and instantaneous temperature and pressure using mathematical relations. Then, while defining rheoelectricity and affecting parameters, the lubricant’s rheo-electrical properties and the way each is related to the lubricant’s rheology under the effect of an electric field on lubricant film were investigated, resulted in an expression of each parameter effect on the lubricant rheo-electrical behavior with a cumulative index such as the Mason number. This article emphasizes the importance of rheoelectricity and the effect of rheo-electric properties on lubricants electromagnetic behavior under influence of both electric and magnetic fields. An attempt has been made to express Influenceability of lubricant rheology from electric fields and to provide an introduction to the electromagnetic behavior of lubricants.