Apparent fracture in polymeric fluids under step shear
Related Experiment Video
Updated: Apr 25, 2026

Studying Large Amplitude Oscillatory Shear Response of Soft Materials
Published on: April 25, 2019
Okpeafoh S Agimelen1, Peter D Olmsted1
1Soft Matter Physics Group, School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, United Kingdom.
Abstract:
Recent step strain experiments in well-entangled polymeric liquids demonstrated a bulk fracturelike phenomenon. We study this instability by using a modern version of the Doi-Edwards theory for entangled polymers, and we find close quantitative agreement with the experiments. The phenomenon occurs because the viscoelastic liquid is sheared into a rubbery state that possesses an elastic constitutive instability [G. Marrucci and N. Grizzuti, J. Rheol. 27, 433 (1983)]. The fracture is a transient manifestation of this instability, which relies on the amplification of spatially inhomogeneous fluctuations. This mechanism differs from the fracture in glassy materials and dense suspensions.
More Related Videos
07:37Full-field Strain Measurements for Microstructurally Small Fatigue Crack Propagation Using Digital Image Correlation Method
Published on: January 16, 2019
08:42Challenges in Rheological Characterization of Highly Concentrated Suspensions — A Case Study for Screen-printing Silver Pastes
Published on: April 10, 2017
Related Concept Videos
Shearing Strain
Elastic Strain Energy for Shearing Stresses
Relation between Poisson's ratio, Modulus of Elasticity and Modulus of Rigidity
Types of Fluids
In contrast, non-Newtonian fluids do not follow Newton's law of viscosity, and...
Plastic Behavior
Problem Solving on Stress and Strain