Mahmoud Rajabian

Rheological properties and microstructural evolution of semi-flexible fiber suspensions under shear flow

The mechanical properties of fiber-reinforced polymers are highly dependent on fiber orientation. A key factor is fiber flexibility, which varies with the intrinsic properties of the fiber, its aspect ratio, and the force of the flow field. In this work, the rheological behavior of model suspensions consisting of a Newtonian silicone oil and fibers with different flexibilities has been studied in transient shear flow. The viscous and elastic properties of the fiber suspensions were shown to increase markedly with fiber flexibility. The suspensions exhibited a viscosity overshoot in stress growth experiments and the magnitude and width of the overshoot became larger as the fiber flexibility increased. The evolution of the suspensions microstructure has also been monitored at different shear rates. The components of the second-order orientation tensor at different times (or strain) were calculated using the images obtained from the visualization experiments. Those experiments showed that fiber orientation w...

Experimental Study and Modeling of Flow Behavior and Orientation Kinetics of Layered Silicate/Polypropylene Nanocomposites in Start-up of Shear Flows

Abstract Effects of organoclay contents on the startup flow properties of layered nano-scale particles in the simple shear mode are investigated. The addition of small amounts of nanoclays to polypropylene melts was found to dramatically change the flow characteristics and creates stress overshoots at large shear rates. A rheological model, initially developed for studying the motion of a group of symmetric ellipsoid particles in viscoelastic fluids was used to describe the orientation state of the uniformly dispersed suspensions of layered silicate in polypropylene melts. The effects of shear, particle loadings, particle interactions, flow reversal and rest time after cession of shear are studied and discussed according to our experimental observations and model predictions. It is shown that another diffusion term in the governing equation for the particles can be used to predict the properties by applying the rest time which was found to change the orientation of particles and shifts it to more isotropic microstructures. The experimental results of the startup viscosity are reasonably well predicted by the model at the three shear rates tested.

Shearing and mixing effects on synthesis and properties of organoclay/polyester nanocomposites

Mixing of solid nanoparticles in viscous fluids is a key stage in synthesis of nanocomposites and can affect their final properties. A multi-step preparatory mixing is developed to synthesize the nanocomposites of layered silicate in thermosetting polymers. This study aims to investigate the influences of mixing conditions and steps taken to process the thermosetting nanocomposites on the viscoelastic properties of suspensions. We also examine subsequent influences of mixing on the microstructure and dispersion state of cured hybrids of organically modified clays in a polyester resin. The nanocomposites were prepared in a sequential mixing process developed for the model nanocomposites of organoclays and thermoset resin. Depending on the mixing conditions, the final nanocomposites showed mixed intercalated and moderately to highly delaminated structure. TEM images show that the nanoclay galleries are dispersed in the polymer phase after curing reactions. The startup viscosities and linear viscoelastic properties of the nanocomposites are significantly influenced by the extent and the time duration of mixing. These observations indicate that extensive mechanical mixing combined with a stationary step followed by moderate shear mixing can improve the polymer and nanoparticle interactions at the interface. In the last part of this work, we develop a simple but efficient mathematical formulation on the flow of oblate spheroids in viscous media and compare selected model predictions with the measured startup shear viscosities of suspensions.

An investigation on modelling and measurements of transient elongational rheology of polymer melts by SER testing platform

Abstract Transient elongational rheology of PP is investigated experimentally. A specifically designed fixture consisting of two drums mounted on a TA Instruments ARES rotational rheometer was used to measure the transient uniaxial extensional viscosity of two commercial grades polypropylene in the molten state. The Hencky strain was varied from 0.003 to 2 s-1 and the temperature was fixed at 180 oC. The measurements show that the steady state elongational viscosity was reached at the measured Hencky strains for polypropylene. Eslami and Grmela have recently introduced a reptation diffusion term arising from the intermolecular chain forces into the rigid FENE-P dumbbells model. The same approach has been used in this study to interpret the transient rheological data in both shear-free and simple shear flows.