Microscopic Mechanisms of the Brittleness of Viscoelastic Fluids Auteur(s): Tabuteau Hervé, Mora S., Porte Grégoire, Abkarian M., Ligoure C. (Article) Publié: Physical Review Letters, vol. 102 p.155501 (2009) Ref HAL: hal-00503271_v1 PMID 19518646 DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.102.155501 WoS: 000265285700042 Exporter : BibTex | endNote 61 Citations Résumé: We show that a large class of viscoelastic fluids, i.e., transient networks, are brittle according to the Griffith's theory of solid fracture. However, contrary to solids, cracks are intrinsic to the material arising from the equilibrium nature of the fluid microstructure. The brittleness of these fluids comes from thermal fluctuations of bonds distribution. In this approach, the rupture stress is predicted to be on the order of the Young modulus, in very good agreement with experimental values. |