Mode-Coupling Theory for the Rheology of Colloidal Glasses: Recent Progress

Michael E. Cates

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

I describe recent progress in the development of constitutive models for the rheology of dense colloidal suspensions in the glassy regime. These start from a formal development of mode coupling theory (MCT) applied to a nonlinear Green-Kubo equation for interacting advected Brownian particles, which forms the basis of an integration through transients (ITT) approach. The physical content of the resulting MCT-ITT constitutive model is briefly outlined. That physics includes a strong dependence of material properties, such as relaxation times, on the preceding flow history. Then, a much simplified schematic version, developed recently, is discussed. This schematic model is tensorially acceptable to rheologists and appears to capture much of the physics of the full model. Finally, an informal 'risk-assessment', discussing the strengths and weaknesses of the MCT approximation, is presented.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)222-231
Number of pages10
JournalProgress of theoretical physics supplement
Issue number184
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2010

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Mode-Coupling Theory for the Rheology of Colloidal Glasses: Recent Progress'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this