Glass Rheology: From mode-coupling theory to a dynamical yield criterion

TL;DR

This paper develops a simplified mode-coupling theory model that captures the tensorial rheological behavior of glasses, enabling calculation of their dynamic yield surfaces for various flow types.

Contribution

It introduces a schematic MCT model with tensorial structure to predict the yield surface of glasses from first principles.

Findings

Calculated dynamic yield surfaces for multiple flow types.

Demonstrated the tensorial MCT model's ability to predict rheological behavior.

Provided a practical approach to interpret MCT-based rheology predictions.

Abstract

The mode coupling theory (MCT) of glasses, while offering an incomplete description of glass transition physics, represents the only established route to first-principles prediction of rheological behavior in nonergodic materials such as colloidal glasses. However, the constitutive equations derivable from MCT are somewhat intractable, hindering their practical use and also their interpretation. Here, we present a schematic (single-mode) MCT model which incorporates the tensorial structure of the full theory. Using it, we calculate the dynamic yield surface for a large class of flows.