Viscoelastic Properties of Dynamically Asymmetric Binary Fluids Under Shear Flow

TL;DR

This paper theoretically investigates how strong dynamical asymmetry in binary fluids affects their viscoelastic behavior under shear flow, using a two-fluid model to simulate phase separation and stress relaxation.

Contribution

It introduces a two-fluid model that incorporates asymmetric viscoelastic stresses to analyze phase separation and stress relaxation in sheared binary fluids.

Findings

Asymmetric viscoelastic stresses influence phase separation dynamics.

Shear flow affects the morphology of phase-separated binary fluids.

Stress relaxation behavior varies with dynamical asymmetry.

Abstract

We study theoretically the viscoelastic properties of sheared binary fluids that have strong dynamical asymmetry between the two components. The dynamical asymmetry arises due to asymmetry between the viscoelastic stresses, particularly the bulk stress. Our calculations are based on the two-fluid model that incorporates the asymmetric stress distribution. We simulate the phase separation process under an externally imposed shear and compare the asymmetric case with the usual phase separation under a shear flow without viscoelastic effects. We also simulate the behavior of phase separated stable morphologies under applied shear and compute the stress relaxation.