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6 - Rheological and microrheological measurements of soft condensed matter

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 July 2014

By
John R. de Bruyn  and
Felix K. Oppong
Edited by
Jeffrey Olafsen
John R. de Bruyn
Affiliation:
The University of Western Ontario
Felix K. Oppong
Affiliation:
The University of Western Ontario
Jeffrey Olafsen
Affiliation:
Baylor University, Texas
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Summary

Introduction

Fluids deform irreversibly under shear; in other words, they flow. In contrast, solids deform elastically when subjected to a small shearing force and recover their original shape when the force is removed. The behavior of what is termed soft matter is somewhere in between. Soft matter systems are typically viscoelastic, that is they display a combination of viscous (fluid-like) and elastic (solid-like) behavior. Measuring the flow behavior and the mechanical response to deformation of viscoelastic materials provides us with information that can be interpreted in terms of their small-scale structure and dynamics.

The mechanical properties of soft materials depend on the length scale probed by the measurements due to the fact that the materials are structured on length scales intermediate between the atomic and bulk scales [1]. For example, a colloidal suspension has structure on the scale of the spacing between the colloidal particles; a concentrated polymer system, on the scale of the entanglements between large molecules. As a result, their bulk properties can be quite different from properties on length scales smaller than or comparable to the structural scale. Making measurements on both macroscopic and microscopic length scales can help us to develop a better understanding of the relationship between microstructure and bulk properties in soft materials.

Following a brief introduction to viscoelasticity, this chapter will focus on two methods of measuring the viscoelastic properties of soft matter. On the macroscopic scale, rotational shear rheometry provides a well-established set of techniques for determining the mechanical properties of complex fluids.

Type
Chapter
Information
Experimental and Computational Techniques in Soft Condensed Matter Physics , pp. 147 - 179
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2010

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