Fractures in complex fluids: the case of transient networks

Abstract

We present a comprehensive review of the current state of fracture phenomena in transient networks, a wide class of viscoelastic fluids. We will first define what is a fracture in a complex fluid, and recall the main structural and rheological properties of transient networks. Secondly, we review experimental reports on fractures of transient networks in several configurations: shear-induced fractures, fractures in Hele-Shaw cells and fracture in extensional geometries (filament stretching rheometry and pendant drop experiments), including fracture propagation. The tentative extension of the concepts of brittleness and ductility to the fracture mechanisms in transient networks is also discussed. Finally, the different and apparently contradictory theoretical approaches developed to interpret fracture nucleation will be addressed and confronted to experimental results. Rationalized criteria to discriminate the relevance of these different models will be proposed.

Review; Rheologica Acta 2013 published on line

References in corpus (10)

• Solvent control of crack dynamics in a reversible hydrogel
• Recent experimental probes of shear banding
• Fracture of a biopolymer gel as a viscoplastic disentanglement process
• Percolation in a Model Transient Network: Rheology and Dynamic Light Scattering
• Swollen Micelles Plus Hydrophobically Modified Hydrosoluble Polymers in Aqueous Solutions: Decoration Versus Bridging. a Small Angle Neutron Scattering Study
• Robust Phase Behavior of Model Transient networks
• Motion of a Viscoelastic Micellar Fluid Around a Cylinder: Flow and Fracture
• From thermally activated to viscosity controlled fracture of biopolymer hydrogels
• Slow crack growth : models and experiments
• Structural Signature of a Brittle-to-Ductile Transition in Self-Assembled Networks