Related Experiment Video
Updated: Nov 25, 2025

Confocal Imaging of Confined Quiescent and Flowing Colloid-polymer Mixtures
Published on: May 20, 2014
Dynamical Properties of Concentrated Suspensions of Block Copolymer Stars in Shear Flow
Diego Jaramillo-Cano1, Manuel Camargo2, Christos N Likos1
1Faculty of Physics, University of Vienna, Boltzmanngasse 5, 1090 Vienna, Austria.
Abstract:
Block copolymer stars (BCSs) have been demonstrated to constitute versatile, self-assembling building blocks with tunable softness, functionalization, and shape. We investigate the dynamical properties of suspensions of short-arm BCSs under linear shear flow by means of extensive particle-based multiscale simulations. We determine the properties of the system for representative values of monomer packing fraction ranging from semidilute to concentrate regimes. We systematically analyze the formed network structures as a function of both shear rate and packing fraction, the reorganization of solvophobic patches, and the corresponding radial correlation functions. Connecting our findings with rheology, we calculate the viscosity as a function of shear rate and discuss the implications of the found shear thinning behavior.
Related Concept Videos
Colloids and Suspensions
Newtonian Fluid: Problem Solving
A velocity gradient forms within the fluid when a Newtonian fluid is placed between two parallel plates, with...
Stokes' Law
The expression for the force on a solid spherical object in a fluid is called Stokes' law. Stokes' law is valid only...
Cationic Chain-Growth Polymerization: Mechanism
Viscosity of Fluid
Steady, Laminar Flow in Circular Tubes

