Sun, 27 Jul 2008 07:51:14 BST CiteULike: dchen's library [900 articles] http://www.citeulike.org/user/dchen/article/2722873 CiteULike.org en-gb Copyright © 2004-2008 citeulike.org http://www.citeulike.org/user/dchen/article/2722873 <i>Langmuir, Vol. 13, No. 17. (20 August 1997), pp. 4600-4613.</i><br /><br />Abstract: We have experimentally studied the shear-induced rupturing of viscous droplets in viscoelastic complex fluids. Remarkably, a premixed emulsion of large, polydisperse droplets can be ruptured into monodisperse emulsions of uniform colloidal droplets. The monodispersity becomes most pronounced when the premixed emulsion is viscoelastic and has a shear-thinning viscosity. Since viscoelastic materials may fracture, we reduce the gap of our shear cell to ensure a spatially uniform strain rate for rupturing. We observe monodispersity whether the viscoelasticity arises from the suspending fluid (e.g., concentrated surfactant solution) or droplet deformation as in compressed emulsions. Our observations suggest that the monodispersity results from droplet rupturing alone and that the capillary instability is inhibited by the partial elasticity of the complex fluid. We use the monodispersity to study how the droplet size depends upon the shear rate and composition. Shear Rupturing of Droplets in Complex Fluids TG Mason J Bibette doi:10.1021/la9700580 Langmuir, Vol. 13, No. 17. (20 August 1997), pp. 4600-4613. 2008-04-27T00:19:24-00:00 1997 Langmuir 13 17 4600 4613 emulsion mason shear