Julie Goyon

Wide-gap Couette flows of dense emulsions: local concentration measurements, and comparison between macroscopic and local constitutive law measurements through magnetic resonance imaging.

Flows of dense emulsions show many complex features among which long range nonlocal effects pose a problem for macroscopic characterization. In order to get around this problem, we study the flows of several dense emulsions, with droplet size ranging from 0.3to40microm , in a wide-gap Couette geometry. We couple macroscopic rheometric experiments and local velocity measurements through magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) techniques. As concentration heterogeneities are expected in the wide-gap Couette flows of multiphase materials, we also designed a method to measure the local droplet concentration in emulsions with a MRI device. In contrast to dense suspensions of rigid particles where very fast migration occurs under shear in wide-gap Couette flows, we show that no migration takes place in dense emulsions even for strains as large as 100 000 in our systems. As a result of the absence of migration and of finite size effect, we are able to determine very precisely the local rheological behavior of several dense emulsions. As the materials are homogeneous, this behavior can also be inferred from purely macroscopic measurements. We thus suggest that properly analyzed purely macroscopic measurements in a wide-gap Couette geometry can be used as a tool to study the local constitutive laws of dense emulsions. All behaviors are basically consistent with Herschel-Bulkley laws of index 0.5. The existence of a constitutive law accounting for all flows contrasts with previous results obtained within a microchannel by Goyon [Nature (London) 454, 84 (2008)]: the use of a wide-gap Couette geometry is likely to prevent here from nonlocal finite size effects; it also contrasts with the observations of Bécu [Phys. Rev. Lett. 96, 138302 (2006)]. We also evidence the existence of discrepancies between a perfect Herschel-Bulkley behavior and the observed local behavior at the approach of the yield stress due to slow shear flows below the apparent yield stress in the case of a strongly adhesive emulsion.

On the existence of a simple yield stress fluid behavior

Abstract Materials such as foams, concentrated emulsions, dense suspensions or colloidal gels, are yield stress fluids. Their steady flow behavior, characterized by standard rheometric techniques, is usually modeled by a Herschel–Bulkley law. The emergence of techniques that allow the measurement of their local flow properties (velocity and volume fraction fields) has led to observe new complex behaviors. It was shown that many of these materials exhibit shear banding in a homogeneous shear stress field, which cannot be accounted for by the standard steady-state constitutive laws of simple yield stress fluids. In some cases, it was also observed that the velocity fields under various conditions cannot be modeled with a single constitutive law and that nonlocal models are needed to describe the flows. Doubt may then be cast on any macroscopic characterization of such systems, and one may wonder if any material behaves in some conditions as a Herschel–Bulkley material. In this paper, we address the question of the existence of a simple yield stress fluid behavior. We first review experimental results from the literature and we point out the main factors (physical properties, experimental procedure) at the origin of flow inhomogeneities and nonlocal effects. It leads us to propose a well-defined procedure to ensure that steady-state bulk properties of the materials are studied. We use this procedure to investigate yield stress fluid flows with MRI techniques. We focus on nonthixotropic dense suspensions of soft particles (foams, concentrated emulsions, Carbopol gels). We show that, as long as they are studied in a wide (as compared to the size of the material mesoscopic elements) gap geometry, these materials behave as ‘simple yield stress fluids’: they are homogeneous, they do not exhibit steady-state shear banding, and their steady flow behavior in simple shear can be modeled by a local continuous monotonic constitutive equation which accounts for flows in various conditions and matches the macroscopic response.

How does a soft glassy material flow: finite size effects, non local rheology, and flow cooperativity

In this paper, we investigate the rheological behavior of jammed emulsions in microchannels on the basis of microvelocimetry techniques. We demonstrate that velocity profiles in this confined geometry cannot be accounted for by the bulk - Herschel-Bulkley - rheological flow curve measured independently in a rheometer. A strong dependence of the flow behavior on the confinement, pressure drop and surface roughness is evidenced, which cannot be described by classical rheological descriptions. We show that these behaviors can be rationalized on the basis of a non local rheological model, introducing the notion of local fluidity as a key rheological quantity. The model reproduces the experimental velocity profiles for any confinements and any surface nature. The non-locality is quantified by a length, ζ, characterizing the flow cooperativity of jammed emulsions, and typically of the order of several emulsion droplet diameters. We study the influence of volume fraction, droplet diameter, and emulsions polydispersity on this length.

Shear induced drainage in foamy yield-stress fluids

Shear induced drainage of a foamy yield-stress fluid is investigated using MRI techniques. Whereas the yield stress of the interstitial fluid stabilizes the system at rest, a fast drainage is observed when a horizontal shear is imposed. It is shown that the sheared interstitial material behaves as a viscous fluid in the direction of gravity, the effective viscosity of which is controlled by shear in transient foam films between bubbles. Results provided for several bubble sizes are not captured by the R2 scaling classically observed for foams. Furthermore, foam films are found to be responsible for the unexpected arrest of drainage, thus trapping irreversibly a significant amount of interstitial liquid.

Coupling of elasticity to capillarity in soft aerated materials

We study the elastic properties of soft solids containing air bubbles. Contrary to standard porous materials, the softness of the matrix allows for a coupling of the matrix elasticity to surface tension forces acting on the bubble surface. Thanks to appropriate experiments on model systems, we demonstrate how the elastic response of the soft porous solid is governed by two dimensionless parameters: the gas volume fraction and a capillary number comparing the elasticity of the matrix with the stiffness of the bubbles. Furthermore, we show that our experimental results are accurately predicted by computations of the shear modulus through a micro-mechanical approach.

Mixtures of foam and paste: suspensions of bubbles in yield stress fluids

We study the rheological behavior of mixtures of foams and pastes, which can be described as suspensions of bubbles in yield stress fluids. Model systems are designed by mixing monodisperse aqueous foams and concentrated emulsions. The elastic modulus of the bubble suspensions is found to depend on the elastic capillary number

Rayleigh-Taylor Instability in Elastoplastic Solids: A Local Catastrophic Process

\textit{Ca}_{_G}

Wall Slip of Soft-Jammed Systems: A Generic Simple Shear Process

, defined as the ratio of the paste elastic modulus to the bubble capillary pressure. For values of

Strengthening and drying rate of a drying emulsion layer

\textit{Ca}_{_G}

Rheology signature of flocculated silica suspensions

larger than