Theory of nonlinear rheology and yielding of dense colloidal suspensions

Abstract

A first principles approach to the nonlinear flow of dense suspensions is presented which captures shear thinning of colloidal fluids and dynamical yielding of colloidal glasses. The advection of density fluctuations plays a central role, suppressing the caging of particles and speeding up structural relaxation. A mode coupling approach is developed to explore these effects.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures; slightly corrected version; Phys. Rev. Lett., to be published (2002