Stress and flow inhomogeneity in shear-thickening suspensions

The viscosity of dense suspensions surges when the applied stress surpasses a material-specific critical threshold. There is growing evidence that the thickening transition involves non-uniform flow and stress with considerable spatiotemporal complexity. Nevertheless, it is anticipated that dense suspensions of calcium carbonate particles with purely repulsive interactions may not conform to this scenario, as indicated by local pressure measurements with millimeter spatial resolution.

Here we utilize Boundary Stress Microscopy (BSM), a technique capable of resolving stresses down to the micron scale, to search for evidence of stress heterogeneity. In addition, we measure the flow field at the lower boundary of the suspension where the boundary stress is measured.

We find localized regions of high-stresses that are extended in the vorticity direction and propagate in the flow direction at a speed approximately half that of the rheometer's top plate. These high-stress regions proliferate with the applied stress accounting for the increased viscosity. Furthermore, the velocity of particles at the lower boundary of the suspension shows a significant and complex nonaffine flow that accompanies regions of high-stresses. Hence, our findings demonstrate that stress and flow inhomogeneity are intrinsic characteristics of shear-thickening suspensions, regardless of the nature of interparticle interactions.