Mike van der Naald’s PhD Thesis Defense 

SOLVATION FORCES AND INCIPIENT JAMMING IN DENSE SUSPENSION FLOWS
 

Dense suspensions are ubiquitous in natural processes that span a range of length scales from debris flow to blood flow.  Despite this ubiquity, only in the last decade have physicists begun to incorporate them into the fold of condensed matter physics. Suspensions can show a range of non-Newtonian flow behaviors such as shear thickening, where the viscosity increases with applied stress, and shear jamming where the suspension solidifies under stress. In this talk I will describe two different studies that elucidate how to understand these systems using tools from chemistry and rigidity theory.  First, I will describe how solvation forces that act at nanometer scales can shape the phase behaviors of dense suspensions. Second, I will outline how we can measure transient rigid structures embedded in suspension flows and how they contribute to dissipation.  

Committee Members:
Heinrich Jaeger (Chair)
Sidney Nagel
Vincenzo Vitelli
David Schmitz