Electro-rheological (ER) effect of a blend composed of two liquid crystalline materials with different molecular weights is described in this article. The results indicated that ER effect of the blend was observed at the temperature range where each neat sample did not show ER effect. Furthermore, both storage modulus (G') and loss modulus (G") decreased drastically at the temperature range for the blend in dynamic visco-elastic measurements. We show that steady ER effect could be obtained by using a blend made up of two liquid crystalline components, whereas remarkable increment in shear stress was not observed for each component under applied electric field. (c) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.