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Interparticle hydrogen bonding can elicit shear jamming in dense suspensions

Nature Materials volume 17, pages 965–970 (2018)Cite this article

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Abstract

Dense suspensions of hard particles in a liquid can exhibit strikingly counter-intuitive behaviour, such as discontinuous shear thickening (DST)1,2,3,4,5,6,7 and reversible shear jamming (SJ) into a state where flow is arrested and the suspension is solid-like8,9,10,11,12. A stress-activated crossover from hydrodynamic interactions to frictional particle contacts is key for these behaviours2,3,4,6,7,9,13. However, in experiments, many suspensions show only DST, not SJ. Here we show that particle surface chemistry plays a central role in creating conditions that make SJ readily observable. We find the system’s ability to form interparticle hydrogen bonds when sheared into contact elicits SJ. We demonstrate this with charge-stabilized polymer microspheres and non-spherical cornstarch particles, controlling hydrogen bond formation with solvents. The propensity for SJ is quantified by tensile tests12 and linked to an enhanced friction by atomic force microscopy. Our results extend the fundamental understanding of the SJ mechanism and open avenues for designing strongly non-Newtonian fluids.

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Fig. 1: Particle characteristics and flow curves.
Fig. 2: Tensile testing for shear jamming.
Fig. 3: Shear jamming dependence on hydrogen bonding.
Fig. 4: The effect of aprotic solvents and ionic strength on shear jamming.
Fig. 5: Connecting particle surface chemistry and interparticle friction.

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Data availability

The datasets generated during and/or analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

We thank S. Majumdar, I. Peters and M. Lueckeheide for insightful discussions. This work was supported by the University of Chicago Women’s Board, and the US Army Research Office through grant W911NF-16-1-0078. Additional support was provided by the Chicago MRSEC, funded by the NSF through grant DMR-1420709. E.H. acknowledges support from the Center for Hierarchical Materials Design (CHiMaD).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. James Franck Institute, The University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA

    Nicole M. James, Endao Han, Justin Jureller & Heinrich M. Jaeger

  2. Department of Chemistry, The University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA

    Nicole M. James

  3. Department of Physics, The University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA

    Endao Han & Heinrich M. Jaeger

  4. Physics of Fluids Group and Max Planck Center for Complex Fluid Dynamics, MESA+ Institute and J.M. Burgers Centre for Fluid Dynamics, University of Twente, Enschede, the Netherlands

    Ricardo Arturo Lopez de la Cruz

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  4. Justin Jureller
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  5. Heinrich M. Jaeger
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Contributions

N.M.J. and H.M.J. conceived of the project and designed the experiments. N.M.J. synthesized and characterized particles, performed the tensile tests and rheological experiments, and analysed data. E.H. performed the ultrasound experiments, particle image velocimetry (PIV) analysis, fast tensile tests, and analysed rheology data to obtain the state diagram. R.L. performed AFM measurements and their analysis. J.J. assisted with AFM measurements and their analysis. N.M.J. and H.M.J wrote the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Heinrich M. Jaeger.

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Supplementary information

Supplementary Information

Supplementary Video Legend 1, Supplementary Figures 1–6

Supplementary Video 1

Tensile test videos. Videos of the pull test experiment on each system described in Figure 2

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James, N.M., Han, E., de la Cruz, R.A.L. et al. Interparticle hydrogen bonding can elicit shear jamming in dense suspensions. Nature Mater 17, 965–970 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41563-018-0175-5

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