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Superposition Rheology and Anisotropy in Rheological Properties of Sheared Colloidal Gels

Journal Contribution - Journal Article

Gelling colloidal suspensions represent an important class of soft materials. Their mechanical response is characterized by a solid-to-liquid transition at a given shear stress level. Moreover, they often exhibit a complex time-dependent rheological be- havior known as thixotropy. The viscosity changes find their origin in the microstruc- ture, which depends on flow history. Yet, the structural response to flow of colloidal gels differs fundamentally from most complex fluids, where flow induces orientation. Upon yielding, low to intermediate volume fraction gels break down in a spatially anisotropic way. Bonds in the velocity-velocity gradient plane are broken, whereas mi- crostructural features in other planes are less affected. The subsequent flow-induced microstructural anisotropy is characterized by typical butterfly scattering patterns. However, as yet there was no evidence for the pertinence of this anisotropy for the rheological properties of these systems. In the present work, orthogonal superposition rheometry was used to first evaluate how the flow-induced microstructure affects the viscoelastic properties. It was shown to retain significant elasticity in the velocity- vorticity plane, even when the structure liquefied. Further, the shear-induced me- chanical anisotropy was measured using two-dimensional small amplitude oscillatory shear, exploiting the fact that for suitable thixotropic samples the recovery after ar- resting the flow is relatively slow. It was hence possible to measure the anisotropy of the moduli upon cessation of flow. The mechanical anisotropy was shown to be spectacular, with the storage moduli in perpendicular directions differing by as much as two orders of magnitude.
Journal: Journal of rheology
ISSN: 0148-6055
Issue: 5
Volume: 61
Pages: 1035 - 1048
Publication year:2017
BOF-keylabel:yes
IOF-keylabel:yes
BOF-publication weight:3
CSS-citation score:2
Authors:International
Authors from:Higher Education
Accessibility:Open