Note: Rheological properties of structured fluids: Improvements on the slotted-plate apparatus.

This note is to report on improvements to the slotted-plate device that allows for the determination of viscosity and yield stress in structured systems such as suspensions and electro-rheological fluids. The improvements address the determination of very low yield stress values that occur, for example, with biological fluids, as well as viscosity measurements at extremely low shear rates.

Giant intracranial aneurysm embolization with a yield stress fluid material: insights from CFD analysis.

The endovascular treatment of intracranial aneurysms remains a challenge, especially when the aneurysm is large in size and has irregular, non-spherical geometry. In this paper, we use computational fluid dynamics to simulate blood flow in a vertebro-basilar junction giant aneurysm for the following three cases: (1) an empty aneurysm, (2) an aneurysm filled with platinum coils, and (3) an aneurysm filled with a yield stress fluid material. In the computational model, blood and the coil-filled region are treated as a non-Newtonian fluid and an isotropic porous medium, respectively. The results show that yield stress fluids can be used for aneurysm embolization provided the yield stress value is 20 Pa or higher. Specifically, flow recirculation in the aneurysm and the size of the inflow jet impingement zone on the aneurysm wall are substantially reduced by yield stress fluid treatment. Overall, this study opens up the possibility of using yield stress fluids for effective embolization of large-volume intracranial aneurysms.

Diffusion of dextran probes in a self-assembled fibrous gel composed of two-dimensional arborols.

Two-dimensional arborols are bolaform amphiphiles in which a central, hydrophobic spacer separates twin hydrophilic ends. Under appropriate conditions, these relatively small molecules assemble into very long fibers; subsequently, the system gels if the arborol concentration is sufficiently high. The diffusion of linear or slightly branched dextran probes in 3 and 6% arborol gels, as determined by fluorescence photobleaching recovery, resembles that of dextrans in water, suggesting a highly open network structure. Melting the gels produces almost no change in diffusion of the dextran probes. Small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) of wet arborol gels at different concentrations and temperatures reveals the diameter of the repeating unit of the fibers to be 8.26+/-0.68 nm. This dimension, which is independent of concentration and temperature, exceeds the length of a single arborol molecule by about a factor of 3. Rheological investigation identifies the linear response regime of the gels and permits an examination of the weak correlation between dextran probe diffusion and gel viscoelasticity.

Shear-induced orientation of a rigid surfactant mesophase.

An optically clear, crystalline, gel-like mesophase is formed by the addition of water to a micellar solution consisting of a mixture of 0.85 M anionic surfactant sodium bis(2-ethylhexyl) sulfosuccinate (AOT) and a 0.42 M zwitterionic surfactant phosphatidylcholine (lecithin) in isooctane. At 25 degrees C and water to AOT molar ratio of 70, the system has a columnar hexagonal microstructure with randomly oriented domains. The shear-induced orientation and subsequent relaxation of this structure were investigated by rheological characterization and small-angle neutron scattering (SANS). The rheological response implies that the domains align under shear, and remain aligned for several hours after cessation of shear. Shear-SANS confirms this picture. The sheared gel mesophase retains its alignment as the temperature is increased to 57 degrees C, indicating the potential to conduct templated polymer and polymer-ceramic composite materials synthesis in aligned systems.