2 years ago

On the nature of flow curve and categorization of thixotropic yield stress materials

On the nature of flow curve and categorization of thixotropic yield stress materials
Tulika Bhattacharyya, Alan R. Jacob, George Petekidis, Yogesh M. Joshi
Journal of Rheology, Volume 67, Issue 2, Page 461-477, March 2023.
Thixotropy is a phenomenon related to time dependent change in viscosity in the presence or absence of flow. The yield stress, on the other hand, represents the minimum value of stress above which steady flow can be sustained. In addition, the yield stress of a material may also change as a function of time. Both these characteristic features in a material strongly influence the steady state flow curve of the same. This study aims to understand the interrelation between thixotropy, yield stress, and their relation with the flow curve. In this regard, we study five thixotropic materials that show yield stress. The relaxation time of all the five systems shows power-law dependence on aging time with behaviors ranging from weaker than linear, linear to stronger than linear. Furthermore, the elastic modulus and yield stress have been observed to be constant for some systems while time dependent for the others. We also analyze the experimental behavior through a viscoelastic thixotropic structural kinetic model that predicts the observed experimental behavior of constant as well as time-dependent yield stress quite well. These findings indicate that a nonmonotonic steady-state flow curve in a structural kinetic formalism necessarily leads to time-dependent yield stress, while constant yield stress is predicted by a monotonic steady-state flow curve with stress plateau in the limit of low shear rates. The present work, therefore, shows that thixotropic materials may exhibit either monotonic or nonmonotonic flow curves. Consequently, thixotropic materials may show no yield stress, constant yield stress, or time-dependent yield stress.
Open access
You might also like
Discover & Discuss Important Research

Keeping up-to-date with research can feel impossible, with papers being published faster than you'll ever be able to read them. That's where Researcher comes in: we're simplifying discovery and making important discussions happen. With over 19,000 sources, including peer-reviewed journals, preprints, blogs, universities, podcasts and Live events across 10 research areas, you'll never miss what's important to you. It's like social media, but better. Oh, and we should mention - it's free.

  • Download from Google Play
  • Download from App Store
  • Download from AppInChina

Researcher displays publicly available abstracts and doesn’t host any full article content. If the content is open access, we will direct clicks from the abstracts to the publisher website and display the PDF copy on our platform. Clicks to view the full text will be directed to the publisher website, where only users with subscriptions or access through their institution are able to view the full article.