Time-Dependent Flow in Arrested States -- Transient Behaviour

Abstract

The transient behaviour of highly concentrated colloidal liquids and dynamically arrested states (glasses) under time-dependent shear is reviewed. This includes both theoretical and experimental studies and comprises the macroscopic rheological behaviour as well as changes in the structure and dynamics on a microscopic individual-particle level. The microscopic and macroscopic levels of the systems are linked by a comprehensive theoretical framework which is exploited to quantitatively describe these systems while they are subjected to an arbitrary flow history. Within this framework, theoretical predictions are compared to experimental data, which were gathered by rheology and confocal microscopy experiments, and display consistent results. Particular emphasis is given to (i) switch-on of shear flow during which the system can liquify, (ii) switch-off of shear flow which might still leave residual stresses in the system, and (iii) large amplitude oscillatory shearing. The competition between timescales and the dependence on flow history leads to novel features in both the rheological response and the microscopic structure and dynamics.