Rheological behavior of a suspension of randomly oriented rods

A. L. Graham, L. A. Mondy, M. Gottlieb, R. L. Powell

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

12 Scopus citations

Abstract

Falling-ball rheometry is used to study a suspension (volume fraction solids=0.05) of large, neutrally buoyant rods (length=3.175 cm, diameter=0.154 cm) in a viscous Newtonian liquid. We find that all sizes of balls studied (0.65 cm ≤ diameter ≤1.90 cm) experience the same continuum that is characterized by a single viscosity which we have measured to be 2.41 times greater than that of the pure suspending liquid. The viscosity increase due to the presence of the rods is over 12 times greater than that observed for a suspension of uniform spheres having the same volume fraction. The results are free of any flow induced clustering and orientation effects and are in reasonable agreement with theoretical predictions for randomly oriented rods.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)127-129
Number of pages3
JournalApplied Physics Letters
Volume50
Issue number3
DOIs
StatePublished - 1 Dec 1987

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Physics and Astronomy (miscellaneous)

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