Ageing and Rheology in Soft Materials

TL;DR

This paper develops a theoretical framework to understand how ageing affects the rheological behavior of soft materials, using a simplified scalar model to predict various ageing-related phenomena.

Contribution

It introduces generalized rheological response functions for ageing samples and applies a scalar model to analyze ageing effects in soft solids, highlighting the role of a noise temperature parameter.

Findings

Ageing occurs when the yield stress is not exceeded in the model.

The linear viscoelastic loss modulus $G''(\omega,t)$ increases as frequency decreases but decreases with age.

Significant ageing effects are predicted in stress overshoot and creep compliance.

Abstract

We study theoretically the role of ageing in the rheology of soft materials. We define several generalized rheological response functions suited to ageing samples (in which time translation invariance is lost). These are then used to study ageing effects within a simple scalar model (the "soft glassy rheology" or SGR model) whose constitutive equations relate shear stress to shear strain among a set of elastic elements, with distributed yield thresholds, undergoing activated dynamics governed by a "noise temperature", $x$. (Between yields, each element follows affinely the applied shear.) For $1<x<2$ there is a power-law fluid regime in which transients occur, but no ageing. For $x<1$, the model has a macroscopic yield stress. So long as this yield stress is not exceeded, ageing occurs, with a sample's apparent relaxation time being of order its own age. The (age-dependent) linear viscoelastic loss modulus $G''(\omega,t)$ rises as frequency is {\em lowered}, but falls with age $t$, so as to always remain less than $G'(\omega,t)$ (which is nearly constant). Significant ageing is also predicted for the stress overshoot in nonlinear shear startup and for the creep compliance. Though obviously oversimplified, the SGR model may provide a valuable paradigm for the experimental and theoretical study of rheological ageing phenomena in soft solids.