paper

Collective rearrangement at the onset of flow of a polycrystalline hexagonal columnar phase

arXiv:cond-mat/0612481 · doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.97.258303

Abstract

Creep experiments on polycrystalline surfactant hexagonal columnar phases show a power law regime, followed by a drastic fluidization before reaching a final stationary flow. The scaling of the fluidization time with the shear modulus of the sample and stress applied suggests that the onset of flow involves a bulk reorganization of the material. This is confirmed by X-ray scattering under stress coupled to \textit{in situ} rheology experiments, which show a collective reorientation of all crystallites at the onset of flow. The analogy with the fracture of heterogeneous materials is discussed.

to appear in Phys. Rev. Lett

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