Concentration Scaling on Linear Viscoelastic Properties of Cellular Suspensions and Effects of Equilibrium Phase Behavior

Abstract

Concentration scaling on linear viscoelastic properties of cellular suspensions has been studied by rheometric characterisation of Phormidium suspensions and human blood in a wide range of volume fraction under small amplitude oscillatory shear experiments. The rheometric characterisation results are analysed by the time-concentration superposition (TCS) principle and show a power law scaling of characteristic relaxation time, plateau modulus and the zero-shear viscosity over the concentration ranges studied. The results show that the concentration effect of Phormidium suspensions on their elasticity is much stronger than that of human blood due to its strong cellular interactions and a high aspect ratio. For human blood, no obvious phase transition could be observed over the range of hematocrits studied here and with respect to a high-frequency dynamic regime, only one concentration scaling exponent could be identified. For Phormidium suspensions with respect to a low-frequency dynamic regime, three concentration scaling exponents in the volume fraction Region I (0.36≤ϕ/ϕref≤0.46), Region II (0.59≤ϕ/ϕref≤2.89) and Region III (3.11≤ϕ/ϕref≤3.44) are identified. The image observation shows that the network formation of Phormidium suspensions occurs as the volume fraction is increased from Region I to Region II; the sol-gel transition takes place from Region II to Region III. In combination with analysis of other nanoscale suspensions and liquid crystalline polymer solutions reported in the literature, it is revealed that such a power law concentration scaling exponent depends on colloidal or molecular interactions mediated with solvent and is sensitive to the equilibrium phase behaviour of complex fluids. The TCS principle is an unambiguous tool to give a quantitative estimation.