Spatiotemporal dynamics of wormlike micelles under shear

Velocity profiles in a wormlike micelle solution (cetyl trimethyl ammonium bromide in D2O) are recorded using ultrasound every 2 s during a startup experiment into the shear-banding regime. The stress relaxation occurs over more than 6 h and corresponds to the very slow nucleation and growth of the high-shear band. Moreover, oscillations of the interface position with a period of about 50 s are observed during the growth process. Strong wall slip, metastable states, and transient nucleation of three-band flows are also reported and discussed in light of previous experiments and theoretical models.