Surface stress decomposition in large amplitude oscillatory interfacial dilatation of complex interfaces

Multiphase materials are often subjected to large deformations during processing, but the rheological responses of complex interfaces (e.g. stabilized by proteins) in this nonlinear deformation regime are still poorly understood. We expect nonlinearities in the response to be introduce by changes of the interfacial network and surface density of the emulsifier.

Large amplitude oscillatory dilatation (LAOD) experiments were performed on WPI-, pea albumin-, pea globulin- and rapeseed lecithin-stabilized interfaces and analyzed with a general stress decomposition (GSD). With GSD, the stress response was decomposed into the four stress terms (τ₁-τ₄). Here, τ₁ and τ₂ represent, the elastic and viscous contribution of the odd Fourier harmonics, and τ₃ and τ₄ represent the dissipative and recoverable contribution of the even harmonics.

Analysis of WPI-, pea albumin-, pea globulin- and rapeseed lecithin-stabilized interfaces revealed that higher odd harmonics (k≥3) describe in-plane network responses and that even harmonics describe surface density changes. Analysis of these complex interfaces showed that GSD is a valuable tool for (quantitative) description of interfacial responses in LAOD, providing new insights into the origin of asymmetric nonlinear stress responses.