Description: Shear-induced displacement of isotropic-nematic spinodals

This title appears in the Scientific Report : 2001

Shear-induced displacement of isotropic-nematic spinodals

The shear dependent location of the isotropic-nematic spinodals in suspensions of bacteriophage fd is studied by means of time resolved birefringence experiments. The hysteresis in the birefringence on increasing and subsequently decreasing the shear-rate allows the determination of the location of...

Personal Name(s):	Lenstra, T.
	Dogic, Z. / Dhont, J. K. G.
Contributing Institute:	Weiche Materie; IFF-WM
Published in:	The @journal of chemical physics, 114 (2001) S. 10151
Imprint:	Melville, NY American Institute of Physics 2001
Physical Description:	10151
DOI:	10.1063/1.1372510
Document Type:	Journal Article
Research Program:	Polymere, Membranen und komplexe Flüssigkeiten
Series Title:	Journal of Chemical Physics 114
Subject (ZB):	J
Link:	OpenAccess
	Publikationsportal JuSER

Please use the identifier: http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.1372510 in citations.
Please use the identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/2128/1605 in citations.

The shear dependent location of the isotropic-nematic spinodals in suspensions of bacteriophage fd is studied by means of time resolved birefringence experiments. The hysteresis in the birefringence on increasing and subsequently decreasing the shear-rate allows the determination of the location of points in the shear-rate vs concentration phase diagram between the isotropic-to-nematic and the nematic-to-isotropic spinodals. Experimental hysteresis curves are interpreted on the basis of an equation of motion for the orientational order parameter tensor, as derived from the N-particle Smoluchowski equation. The spinodals are found to shift to lower concentrations on increasing the shear-rate. Above a critical shear-rate, where shear forces dominate over thermodynamic forces, no spinodal instability could be detected. (C) 2001 American Institute of Physics.