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Updated: Aug 22, 2026

Combining Microfluidics and Microrheology to Determine Rheological Properties of Soft Matter during Repeated Phase Transitions
Published on: April 19, 2018
Rheological properties of a highly confined film of a lyotropic lamellar phase
1Laboratoire de Physique de la Matiére Condensée et Nanostructures--Université Claude Bernard--Bat. Léon Brillouin, 43 bd du 11 Novembre 1918, 69622 Villeurbanne, France.
Abstract:
We investigated the rheological properties of a thin film of a lyotropic lamellar phase with a Dynamic Surface Forces Apparatus. The minimum thickness of the film is varied between one to several tens of layers by confining the materials between solid surfaces. The rheometric properties are measured with the application of a small harmonic compression. These properties depend clearly on the smectic order of the material. Whole mechanical properties may be easily described by taking into account interactions between membranes and motion of the dislocation line loops. In particular, it is shown that at the dynamical frequencies investigated in this study, the solvent flows between membranes which remain undeformed. Consequences and perspectives of this study will be discussed.
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