Capillary Forces in Suspension Rheology
Condensed Matter journal club
Capillary Forces in Suspension Rheology
- Event time: 11:30am
- Event date: 27th January 2012
- Speaker: Professor Wilson Poon (School of Physics & Astronomy, University of Edinburgh)
- Location: Room 2511, James Clerk Maxwell Building (JCMB) James Clerk Maxwell Building Peter Guthrie Tait Road Edinburgh EH9 3FD GB
Event details
Abstract
The rheology of suspensions (solid particles dispersed in a fluid) is controlled primarily through the volume fraction of solids. We show that the addition of small amounts of a secondary fluid, immiscible with the continuous phase of the suspension, causes agglomeration due to capillary forces and creates particle networks, dramatically altering the bulk rheological behavior from predominantly viscous or weakly elastic to highly elastic or gel-like. This universal phenomenon is observed for a rich variety of particle/liquid systems, independent of whether the second liquid wets the particles better or worse than the primary liquid. These admixtures form stable suspensions where settling would otherwise occur and may serve as a precursor for microporous polymer foams, or lightweight ceramics.pdf version of paper
Authors
E. Koos, N. Willenbacher
About Condensed Matter journal club
Given the diversity of research in the CM group, chosen topics vary widely. We tend to stick to high-impact journals - Nature, Science, PNAS and PRL have been popular - but this is not prescriptive..