Open AccessNumerical simulations for the rheological characteristics of emulsions under several conditions including temperature, shear rate, surfactant concentration and droplet size
Author(s) -
Choi Se Bin,
Lee Jung Shin,
Baik Seung Joo,
Lee Joon Sang
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
micro and nano letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.25
H-Index - 31
ISSN - 1750-0443
DOI - 10.1049/mnl.2014.0426
Subject(s) - rheology , pulmonary surfactant , shear rate , materials science , thermodynamics , mechanics , shear (geology) , composite material , physics
An emulsion system was simulated under simple shear rates to analyse its rheological characteristics using the lattice Boltzmann method. The relative viscosity of an emulsion under a simple shear flow along with changes in temperature, shear rate, surfactant concentration and droplet size was calculated. The relative viscosity of emulsions decreased with increase in temperature. The shear thinning phenomena explaining the inverse proportion between shear rate and viscosity were observed. An increase in the surfactant concentration caused an increase in the relative viscosity for a decane‐in‐water emulsion, because the increased deformation caused by the decreased interfacial tension significantly influenced the wall shear stress. An increase in droplet size caused a decrease in the relative viscosity and smaller shear thinning behaviour because of decreased aggregational and repulsive forces within the emulsion system.