Defining Thixotropy

Abstract

Originally coined 100 years ago to represent a shear-reversible sol-gel transition, the range of the term "thixotropy" has gradually expanded to encompass time-dependent changes in viscosity. Since this risks confusing "thixotropy" with ordinary nonlinear viscoelastic behavior, in this work we seek simple, historically faithful, quantifiable, and experimentally testable definitions of "thixotropy" that avoid this confusion. By analysing both historical tradition and published experimental data, we arrive at three complementary definitions. Definition 0 provides an idealized, purely inelastic reference useful primarily for recognizing thixotropy in a constitutive equation. Definitions 1 and 2, which are more practical, require, respectively, unusually large strains to reach steady state, and unbounded growth of the material relaxation time during rest. Definition 1 can apply in either shear-rate or stress-controlled modes, with the latter encompassing the so-called "viscosity bifurcation." These criteria are tested across diverse materials that we identify as thixotropic based on their responses clearly exceeding their viscoelastic reference scales. The framework is deliberately phenomenological and does not require specific microscopic mechanisms, allowing diverse materials to be described within a common rheological language, as is typical for rheological terminology. We believe that these definitions provide a practical framework for assigning thixotropy a more definite place in rheological taxonomy.