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Updated: May 26, 2026

Combining Microfluidics and Microrheology to Determine Rheological Properties of Soft Matter during Repeated Phase Transitions
Published on: April 19, 2018
Rheology of attractive emulsions
Sujit S Datta1, Dustin D Gerrard, Travers S Rhodes
1Department of Physics, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.
Abstract:
We show how attractive interactions dramatically influence emulsion rheology. Unlike the repulsive case, attractive emulsions below random close packing, φ(RCP), can form soft gel-like elastic solids. However, above φ(RCP), attractive and repulsive emulsions have similar elasticities. Such compressed attractive emulsions undergo an additional shear-driven relaxation process during yielding. Our results suggest that attractive emulsions begin to yield at weak points through the breakage of bonds, and, above φ(RCP), also undergo droplet configurational rearrangements.
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