Structure of nano-composite materials in extensional flows
Résumé
Extensive researches on nano-composite materials submitted to shear flow or extensional flow, have been motivated by their spectacular rheological behavior and vast industrial applications (deposition, ultrafiltration, extrusion, etc.). Indeed, these materials under extensional flow can exhibit time dependent viscoelastic properties. Instabilities such as localization, phase separation, segregation, can occur which are not well understood. The scientific objective of this research is to elucidate the relationship between the extensional flow properties (strain and stress fields) and the dynamics of the induced structures (orientation, aggregation, phase transition, etc.). The nano-composite materials studied are composed of sepiolite clay particles (rigid rods 1 micrometer long and 0.010 micrometers in diameter) in a water-soluble polymer, polyethylene oxide. A new extensional flow device developed at the "Laboratoire de Rhéologie", has allowed to combine extensional flows with SAXS on ID02 at the ESRF. The trajectory of the strain field within the sample volume has been well characterized by particle imaging velocimetry, in order to apply pure extensional flows in the desired extensional rate and viscosity domains.