Gels formed by worm-like micelles : Yielding and fluidization characteristics

ORAL

Abstract

A rarely studied system of long chain surfactant molecules has been shown to display 'gel-like' rheology at room temperature despite the absence of cross-linking.\footnote{Kumar, Rakesh, et al. "Wormlike micelles of a C22-tailed zwitterionic betaine surfactant: from viscoelastic solutions to elastic gels." Langmuir 23.26 (2007): 12849-12856.} Using a similar model system, we investigate the yielding characteristics of micellar gels using creep and amplitude sweeps and elucidate dependencies on temperature and surfactant concentration. Further, we study the phenomenon of shear driven fluidization to better quantify the solid-liquid and yielding transitions in worm-like micellar gels.

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Authors

  • Ronak Gupta

    • Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of British Columbia
    • Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, University of British Columbia

  • Rodrigo Mitishita

    • Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of British Columbia
    • Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, University of British Columbia

  • Gwynn Elfring

    • Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of British Columbia
    • Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, University of British Columbia

  • Ian Frigaard

    • Departments of Mechanical Engineering and Mathematics, University of British Columbia
    • Departments of Mathematics and Mechanical Engineering, University of British Columbia
    • Departments of Mathematics and Mechanical Engineering