An experimental and theoretical determination of oscillatory shear-induced crystallization processes in viscoelastic photonic crystal media

Chris E. Finlayson*, Giselle Rosetta, Jeremy J. Baumberg

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

9 Citations (Scopus)
80 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

A study is presented of the oscillatory shear-ordering dynamics of viscoelastic photonic crystal media, using an optical shear cell. The hard-sphere/“sticky”-shell design of these polymeric composite particles produces athermal, quasi-solid rubbery media, with a characteristic viscoelastic ensemble response to applied shear. Monotonic crystallization processes, as directly measured by the photonic stopband transmission, are tracked as a function of strain amplitude, oscillation frequency, and temperature. A complementary generic spatio-temporal model is developed of crystallization due to shear-dependent interlayer viscosity, giving propagating crystalline fronts with increasing applied strain, and a gradual transition from interparticle disorder to order. The introduction of a competing shear-induced flow degradation process, dependent on the global shear rate, gives solutions with both amplitude and frequency dependence. The extracted crystallization timescales show parametric trends which are in good qualitative agreement with experimental observations.

Original languageEnglish
Article number5298
Number of pages18
JournalMaterials
Volume14
Issue number18
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 14 Sept 2021

Keywords

  • Composite materials
  • Photonic crystals
  • Polymers
  • Shear-induced crystallization
  • Viscoelasticity
  • shear-induced crystallization
  • viscoelasticity
  • polymers
  • photonic crystals
  • composite materials

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