Elastic Flow Instability in Nanotube Suspensions

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

1-1-2004

Abstract

We report an elastic instability associated with flow-induced clustering in semidilute non-Brownian colloidal nanotubes. Rheo-optical measurements are compared with simulations of mechanical flocculation in sheared fiber suspensions, and the evolving structure is characterized as a function of confinement and shear stress. The transient rheology is correlated with the evolution of highly elastic vorticity-aligned aggregates, with the underlying instability being somewhat ubiquitous in complex fluids. © 2004 The American Physical Society.

Publication Title

Physical Review Letters

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