Human blood plasma in capillary-size flow: Revealing hidden elasticity and scale dependence

U. Windberger (1) , Laurence Noirez (2, 3)

1 Medizinische Universität Wien = Medical University of Vienna
2 LLB - UMR 12 - Laboratoire Léon Brillouin
3 NFMQ - LLB - Nouvelles frontières dans les matériaux quantiques

The dynamical mechanical analysis of blood generally uses models inspired by conventional flows, assuming scale-independent homogeneous flows and without considering fluid-surface boundary interactions. The present experimental study highlights the pertinence of a non-conventional approach to identify dynamic properties of human blood plasma. A finite shear elastic response (solid-like property) is identified in nearly static conditions, which also depends on the scale (being reinforced at small scales). Therefore, blood plasma is a scale dependent viscoelastic solid that flows over a weak stress threshold. This finding opens new routes for medical diagnosis and device fabrication.

Domaines: Physique [physics]; Hématologie

U. Windberger, Laurence Noirez. Human blood plasma in capillary-size flow: Revealing hidden elasticity and scale dependence. 2020. ⟨hal-02513618⟩