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Updated: Aug 22, 2026

Confocal Imaging of Confined Quiescent and Flowing Colloid-polymer Mixtures
Published on: May 20, 2014
Shear-induced configurations of confined colloidal suspensions
Itai Cohen1, Thomas G Mason, David A Weitz
1Department of Physics and Division of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, 9 Oxford Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA.
Abstract:
We show that geometric confinement dramatically affects the shear-induced configurations of dense monodisperse colloidal suspensions; a new structure emerges, where layers of particles buckle to stack in a more efficient packing. The volume fraction in the shear zone is controlled by a balance between the viscous stresses and the osmotic pressure of a contacting reservoir of unsheared particles. We present a model that accounts for our observations and helps elucidate the complex interplay between particle packing and shear stress for confined suspensions.
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