A hybrid molecular dynamics study on the non-Newtonian rheological behaviors of shear thickening fluid

Kaihui Chen; Yu Wang; Shouhu Xuan; Xinglong Gong

doi:10.1016/j.jcis.2017.03.038

A hybrid molecular dynamics study on the non-Newtonian rheological behaviors of shear thickening fluid

J Colloid Interface Sci. 2017 Jul 1:497:378-384. doi: 10.1016/j.jcis.2017.03.038. Epub 2017 Mar 8.

Authors

Kaihui Chen¹, Yu Wang², Shouhu Xuan¹, Xinglong Gong³

Affiliations

¹ CAS Key Laboratory of Mechanical Behavior and Design of Materials, Department of Modern Mechanics, University of Science and Technology of China (USTC), Hefei 230027, PR China.
² CAS Key Laboratory of Mechanical Behavior and Design of Materials, Department of Modern Mechanics, University of Science and Technology of China (USTC), Hefei 230027, PR China. Electronic address: wyu@ustc.edu.cn.
³ CAS Key Laboratory of Mechanical Behavior and Design of Materials, Department of Modern Mechanics, University of Science and Technology of China (USTC), Hefei 230027, PR China. Electronic address: gongxl@ustc.edu.cn.

PMID: 28314143
DOI: 10.1016/j.jcis.2017.03.038

Abstract

To investigate the microstructural evolution dependency on the apparent viscosity in shear-thickening fluids (STFs), a hybrid mesoscale model combined with stochastic rotation dynamics (SRD) and molecular dynamics (MD) is used. Muller-Plathe reverse perturbation method is adopted to analyze the viscosities of STFs in a two-dimensional model. The characteristic of microstructural evolution of the colloidal suspensions under different shear rate is studied. The effect of diameter of colloidal particles and the phase volume fraction on the shear thickening behavior is investigated. Under low shear rate, the two-atom structure is formed, because of the strong particle attractions in adjacent layers. At higher shear rate, the synergetic pair structure extends to layered structure along flow direction because of the increasing hydrodynamics action. As the shear rate rises continuously, the layered structure rotates and collides with other particles, then turned to be individual particles under extension or curve string structure under compression. Finally, at the highest shear rate, the strings curve more severely and get into two-dimensional cluster. The apparent viscosity of the system changes from shear-thinning behavior to the shear-thickening behavior. This work presents valuable information for further understanding the shear thickening mechanism.

Keywords: Microstructure; Molecular dynamics; Shear thickening; Stochastic rotation dynamics.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't