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Updated: May 25, 2026

Studying Large Amplitude Oscillatory Shear Response of Soft Materials
Published on: April 25, 2019
Transverse alignment of fibers in a periodically sheared suspension: an absorbing phase transition with a slowly
Alexandre Franceschini1, Emmanouela Filippidi, Elisabeth Guazzelli
1Center for Soft Matter Research, Department of Physics, New York University, 4 Washington Place, New York, New York 10003, USA.
Abstract:
Shearing solutions of fibers or polymers tends to align fiber or polymers in the flow direction. Here, non-Brownian rods subjected to oscillatory shear align perpendicular to the flow while the system undergoes a nonequilibrium absorbing phase transition. The slow alignment of the fibers can drive the system through the critical point and thus promote the transition to an absorbing state. This picture is confirmed by a universal scaling relation that collapses the data with critical exponents that are consistent with conserved directed percolation.
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