Shear time dependent viscosity of polystyrene-ethylacrylate based shear thickening fluid

Abstract

In this study, the influence of the shear rate and shear time on the transient viscosity of polystyrene-ethylacrylate based shear thickening fluid (STF) is investigated. If the shear rate is stepwise changed, it is found that both the viscosity and critical shear rate are affected by the shear time. Above the critical shear rate, the viscosity of the STF with larger power law exponent (n) increases faster. However, the viscosity tends to decrease when the shear time is long enough. This phenomenon can be responsible for the reversible structure buildup and the break-down process. An effective volume fraction (EVF) mechanism is proposed to analyze the shear time dependent viscosity and it is found that viscosity changes in proportion to EVF. To further clarify the structure evolution, a structural kinetic model is studied because the structural kinetic parameter (λ) could describe the variation in the effective volume fraction. The theoretical results of the structural kinetic model agree well with the experimental results. With this model, the change in viscosity and EVF can be speculated from the variation of λ and then the structure evolution can be better illustrated.