AbstractElectrorheological (ER) fluids are fluids that undergo changes in their rheological properties in the presence of an applied electrical field. The change in the flow properties with an applied electrical field has led to their being investigated for use as ‘smart’ lubricants. The Bingham model is currently used to describe the behaviour of these fluids. In this work, the Bingham model parameters of a commercially available ER fluid are obtained using an axial flow concentric‐cylinder rheometer. Two methods are used to determine these parameters. One is the Weissenberg (—Rabinowitsch) method applied to thin annular slits, to obtain corrected stress—strain rate information. The other method involves directly fitting the velocity—pressure curve data to the axial flow rate equation of a Bingham fluid through concentric cylinders. The results obtained by these two methods differ by as much as 49.4 and 63.5% for the yield stress and viscosity, respectively.It is observed for this ER fluid that the yield stress increases according to a power law relationship with the applied electrical field. The viscosity appears to decrease linearly with an increase in the applied elect