An Introduction to Rheology

1) What is rheology?; historical perspective; the importance of non-linearity; solids and liquids; rheology is a difficult subject; components of rheological research. 2) Viscosity; practical ranges of variables which affect viscosity; the shear-dependent viscosity of non-Newtonian liquids; viscometers for measuring shear viscosity. 3) Linear viscoelasticity; the meaning and consequences of linearity; the Kelvin and Maxwell models; the relaxation spectrum; oscillatory shear; relationships between functions of linear viscoelasticity; methods of measurement. 4) Normal stresses; the nature and origin of normal stresses; typical behaviour of N 1 and N 2; observable consequences of N 1 and N 2; methods of measuring N 1 and N 2; relationships between viscometric functions and linear viscoelastic functions. 5) extensional viscosity; importance of extensional flow; theoretical considerations; experimental methods; experimental results; some demonstrations of high extensional viscosity behaviour. 6) Rheology of polymeric liquids; general behaviour; effect of temperature on polymer rheology; effect of molecular weight on polymer rheology; effect of concentration on the rheology of polymer solutions; polymer gels; liquid crystal polymers. molecular theories; the method of reduced variables; empirical relations between rheological functions; practical applications. 7) Rheology of suspensions; the viscosity of suspensions of solid particles in Newtonian liquids; the colloidal contribution to viscosity; viscoelastic properties of suspensions; suspensions of deformable particles; the interaction of suspended particles with polymer molecules also present in the continuous phase; computer simulation studies of suspension rheology. 8. Theoretical rheology; basic principles of continuum mechanics; successful applications of the formulation principles; some general constitutive equations; constitutive equations for restricted classes of flows; simple constitutive equations of the Oldroyd/Maxwell type; solution of flow problems.