Colloidal suspensions in one-phase mixed solvents under shear flow

Abstract

We numerically studied the behaviour of colloidal suspensions in one-phase binary liquid mixtures under shear flows. Far from the phase-separation point, the colloidal particles are well dispersed and the suspension exhibits a Newtonian viscosity. When the mixture is close to the coexistence curve, the colloidal particles aggregate by attractive interactions due to the concentration heterogeneity caused by surface wetting, and the viscosity of the suspension increases. Near the phase-separation point, the viscosity increases when the fraction of species favoured by the surface of a colloid particle is small. The mixture also exhibits shear thinning behaviour, since the aggregated structure is rearranged into small clusters due to the shear flow. Our simulations indicate that the concentration profile around each particle is not significantly disturbed by the shear flow at the onset of the structural rearrangements. The effective interaction is independent of the shear flow and remains isotropic.