109 research outputs found
Linear and nonlinear rheology of wormlike micelles
Several surfactant molecules self-assemble in solution to form long,
cylindrical, flexible wormlike micelles. These micelles can be entangled with
each other leading to viscoelastic phases. The rheological properties of such
phases are very interesting and have been the subject of a large number of
experimental and theoretical studies in recent years. We shall report on our
recent work on the macrorheology, microrheology and nonlinear flow behaviour of
dilute aqueous solutions of a surfactant CTAT (Cetyltrimethylammonium
Tosilate). This system forms elongated micelles and exhibits strong
viscoelasticity at low concentrations ( 0.9 wt%) without the addition of
electrolytes. Microrheology measurements of have been done using
diffusing wave spectroscopy which will be compared with the conventional
frequency sweep measurements done using a cone and plate rheometer. The second
part of the paper deals with the nonlinear rheology where the measured shear
stress is a nonmonotonic function of the shear rate . In
stress-controlled experiments, the shear stress shows a plateau for
larger than some critical strain rate, similar to the earlier
reports on CPyCl/NaSal system. Cates et al have proposed that the plateau is a
signature of mechanical instability in the form of shear bands. We have carried
out extensive experiments under controlled strain rate conditions, to study the
time-dependence of shear stress. The measured time series of shear stress has
been analysed in terms of correlation integrals and Lyapunov exponents to show
unambiguously that the behaviour is typical of low dimensional dynamical
systems.Comment: 15 pages, 10 eps figure
Indoor robot gardening: design and implementation
This paper describes the architecture and implementation of a distributed autonomous gardening system with applications in urban/indoor precision agriculture. The garden is a mesh network of robots and plants. The gardening robots are mobile manipulators with an eye-in-hand camera. They are capable of locating plants in the garden, watering them, and locating and grasping fruit. The plants are potted cherry tomatoes enhanced with sensors and computation to monitor their well-being (e.g. soil humidity, state of fruits) and with networking to communicate servicing requests to the robots. By embedding sensing, computation, and communication into the pots, task allocation in the system is de-centrally coordinated, which makes the system scalable and robust against the failure of a centralized agent. We describe the architecture of this system and present experimental results for navigation, object recognition, and manipulation as well as challenges that lie ahead toward autonomous precision agriculture with multi-robot teams.Swiss National Science Foundation (contract number PBEL2118737)United States. Army Research Office. Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative (MURI SWARMS project W911NF-05-1-0219)National Science Foundation (U.S.) (NSF IIS-0426838)Intel Corporation (EFRI 0735953 Intel)Massachusetts Institute of Technology (UROP program)Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MSRP program
Recent experimental probes of shear banding
Recent experimental techniques used to investigate shear banding are
reviewed. After recalling the rheological signature of shear-banded flows, we
summarize the various tools for measuring locally the microstructure and the
velocity field under shear. Local velocity measurements using dynamic light
scattering and ultrasound are emphasized. A few results are extracted from
current works to illustrate open questions and directions for future research.Comment: Review paper, 23 pages, 11 figures, 204 reference
Free-radical polymerization of styrene in worm-like micelles
7 pages, 9 figures.-- Printed version published Dec 2003.The solubilization of styrene in wormlike micelles of the cationic surfactant, cetyltrimethylammonium tosilate (CTAT), and its polymerization is examined here by UV spectroscopy, oscillatory rheometry, small angle X-ray scattering, polarizing light microscopy, and transmission electron microscopy. At low CTAT concentrations, the polymerization of styrene yields small and rigid rods in coexistence with wormlike micelles that form from the excess surfactant after the polymerization process. At high CTAT concentrations, polymeric rods (of large aspect ratio), spheroid polymer particles, and wormlike micelles coexist. The polymerization rate is second order, indicating that polymerization reactions end mainly by bimolecular termination.This work was supported by the Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología de México (Grants 38681-E and NC-204) and for the Spanish government through the Iberoamerica Scientific Cooperation Program.Peer reviewe
Kinetics of the Sphere-to-Rod like Micelle Transition in a Pluronic Triblock Copolymer
The kinetics of the sphere-to-rod transition was studied
in aqueous
micelle solutions of triblock copolymer poly(ethylene oxide)–poly(propylene
oxide)–poly(ethylene oxide) pluronic P103 (PEO<sub>17</sub>PPO<sub>60</sub>PEO<sub>17</sub>). This transition was triggered
by a temperature jump from the sphere phase to the rod phase and monitored
with dynamic light scattering. The combination of the scattering intensity
and the hydrodynamic radius were used to show that the micelles grow
steadily as rods throughout the growth process. The transition was
found to exhibit a single exponential behavior even in the case of
large deviations from equilibrium. The linear increase in the decay
rate with increasing copolymer concentration shows that the transition
is dominated by a mechanism involving fusion and fragmentation of
proper micelles. The decays of the sphere-to-rod transition were simulated
for two pathways: random fusion fragmentation and successive addition
of spherical micelles to rods. We show that micelle growth most likely
occurs via random fusion-fragmentation. The second order rate constant
for fusion and the fragmentation rate are calculated for the case
of random fusion-fragmentation
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