Elastic flow instability in nanotube suspensions.
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.
National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD 20899, USA.
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S
Lin-Gibson
J A
JA
Pathak
E A
EA
Grulke
H
H
Wang
E K
EK
Hobbie