Issue 10, 2009

Extensional rheology of shear-thickening nanoparticle suspensions

Abstract

A filament-stretching rheometer is used to measure the extensional properties of shear-thickening nanoparticle suspensions as a function of concentration and extension rate. The experiments are performed using a series of colloidal suspensions consisting of concentrations of 17.5 wt%, 25 wt% and 30 wt% of fumed silica nanoparticles in polypropylene glycol. The shear rheology of these suspensions was found to demonstrate dynamic shear-thickening behavior owing to the formation of large hydrodynamic clusters. The critical value of angular frequency for the onset of shear-thickening was found to increase monotonically with decreased strain amplitude. The extensional rheology of all the tested suspensions demonstrated modest strain-hardening at low strain rates. At a critical extension rate, a dramatic increase in both the speed and magnitude of the strain-hardening is observed for both the 25 wt% and 30 wt% suspensions with increasing extensional rate. The steady state extensional viscosity as a function of extension rate shows sharp extensional thickening transition very similar to shear flows. The increase in strain-hardening is likely due to the formation of strings and clusters ordered in the flow direction. This hypothesis is confirmed by small-angle light scattering measurements of the flow of the nanoparticle suspension through a microfluidic hyperbolic contraction. The degree of alignment of nanoparticles is quantified from the analysis of the scattering patterns and found to increase significantly with increasing extension rate.

Graphical abstract: Extensional rheology of shear-thickening nanoparticle suspensions

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
19 Nov 2008
Accepted
27 Feb 2009
First published
20 Apr 2009

Soft Matter, 2009,5, 2117-2124

Extensional rheology of shear-thickening nanoparticle suspensions

M. Chellamuthu, E. M. Arndt and J. P. Rothstein, Soft Matter, 2009, 5, 2117 DOI: 10.1039/B820684H

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