Hydrodynamic and Contact Contributions to Continuous Shear Thickening in Colloidal Suspensions

Neil Y. C. Lin*, Ben M. Guy, Michiel Hermes, Chris Ness, Jin Sun, Wilson C. K. Poon, Itai Cohen

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Shear thickening is a widespread phenomenon in suspension flow that, despite sustained study, is still the subject of much debate. The longstanding view that shear thickening is due to hydrodynamic clusters has been challenged by recent theory and simulations suggesting that contact forces dominate, not only in discontinuous, but also in continuous shear thickening. Here, we settle this dispute using shear reversal experiments on micron-sized silica and latex particles to measure directly the hydrodynamic and contact force contributions to shear thickening. We find that contact forces dominate even continuous shear thickening. Computer simulations show that these forces most likely arise from frictional interactions.

Original languageEnglish
Article number228304
Number of pages5
JournalPhysical Review Letters
Volume115
Issue number22
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 25 Nov 2015

Keywords / Materials (for Non-textual outputs)

  • NON-BROWNIAN SUSPENSIONS
  • CONCENTRATED SUSPENSIONS
  • RHEOLOGY
  • DISPERSIONS
  • MICROSTRUCTURE
  • DYNAMICS
  • SPHERES
  • FLOW
  • SIMULATION
  • PARTICLES

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