Nonlinear rheology of colloidal dispersions

• Published in: Journal of physics. Condensed matter Vol. 22; no. 36; p. 363101
• Main Author: Brader, J M
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Bristol IOP Publishing 15.09.2010; Institute of Physics
• Subjects: Chemistry; Colloidal state and disperse state; Exact sciences and technology; General and physical chemistry; Physical and chemical studies. Granulometry. Electrokinetic phenomena; Brownian motion; Phenomenology; Glass transition; Shear thickening; Rheology; Colloidal suspension; Continuum mechanics; Microscopic model; Hard sphere model; Non linear effect; Smoluchowski equation; Shear thinning
• ISSN: 0953-8984; 1361-648X; 1361-648X
• DOI: 10.1088/0953-8984/22/36/363101

Colloidal dispersions are commonly encountered in everyday life and represent an important class of complex fluid. Of particular significance for many commercial products and industrial processes is the ability to control and manipulate the macroscopic flow response of a dispersion by tuning the microscopic interactions between the constituents. An important step towards attaining this goal is the development of robust theoretical methods for predicting from first-principles the rheology and nonequilibrium microstructure of well defined model systems subject to external flow. In this review we give an overview of some promising theoretical approaches and the phenomena they seek to describe, focusing, for simplicity, on systems for which the colloidal particles interact via strongly repulsive, spherically symmetric interactions. In presenting the various theories, we will consider first low volume fraction systems, for which a number of exact results may be derived, before moving on to consider the intermediate and high volume fraction states which present both the most interesting physics and the most demanding technical challenges. In the high volume fraction regime particular emphasis will be given to the rheology of dynamically arrested states.