An empirical constitutive law for concentrated colloidal suspensions in the approach of the glass transition

Concentrated, non-crystallizing colloidal suspensions in their approach of the glass state exhibit distinct dynamics patterns. These patterns suggest a powerlaw rheological constitutive model for nearglass viscoelasticity, as presented here. The rheological parameters used for this model originate in the mode-coupling theory. The proposed constitutive model provides explicit expressions for the steady shear viscosity, the steady normal stress coeffi:cient, the' modulus-compliance relation, and the a peak of G". The relaxation pattern distinctly, differs from gelation.