Stability diagram for dense suspensions of model colloidalAl2O3particles in shear flow

Stability diagram for dense suspensions of model colloidal Al2O3 particles in shear flow.

In Al2O3 suspensions, depending on the experimental conditions, very different microstructures can be found, comprising fluidlike suspensions, a repulsive structure, and a clustered microstructure. For technical processing in ceramics, the knowledge of the microstructure is of importance, since it essentially determines the stability of a workpiece to be produced. To enlighten this topic, we in...

Phase diagram of vertically vibrated dense suspensions

Generality of shear thickening in dense suspensions.

Suspensions are of wide interest and form the basis for many smart fluids. For most suspensions, the viscosity decreases with increasing shear rate, that is, they shear thin. Few are reported to do the opposite, that is, shear thicken, despite the longstanding expectation that shear thickening is a generic type of suspension behaviour. Here we resolve this apparent contradiction. We demonstrate...

Dense colloidal suspensions under time-dependent shear.

We consider the nonlinear rheology of dense colloidal suspensions under a time-dependent simple shear flow. Starting from the Smoluchowski equation for interacting Brownian particles advected by shearing (ignoring fluctuations in fluid velocity), we develop a formalism which enables the calculation of time-dependent, far-from-equilibrium averages. Taking shear stress as an example, we derive ex...

Localized stress fluctuations drive shear thickening in dense suspensions.

Dense particulate suspensions exhibit a dramatic increase in average viscosity above a critical, material-dependent shear stress. This thickening changes from continuous to discontinuous as the concentration is increased. Using direct measurements of spatially resolved surface stresses in the continuous thickening regime, we report the existence of clearly defined dynamic localized regions of s...