dilatant
Sign in to savethumb|350x350px|Plot of shear rate as a function of the shear stress. Dilatants in green. A dilatant (, ) (also termed shear thickening) material is one in which viscosity increases with the rate of shear strain. Such a shear thickening fluid, also known by the initialism STF, is an example of a non-Newtonian fluid. This behaviour is usually not observed in pure materials, but can occur in suspensions.
Article
16 sectionsContents
- Definitions
- Stabilized suspensions
- Electrostatically stabilized suspensions
- Sterically stabilized suspensions
- Theories behind shear thickening behavior
- Order to disorder transition
- Hydroclustering
- Examples
- Corn starch and water (oobleck)
- Silica and polyethylene glycol
- Applications
- Traction control
- Body armor
- See also
- References
- External links
thumb|350x350px|Plot of shear rate as a function of the shear stress. Dilatants in green. A dilatant (, ) (also termed shear thickening) material is one in which viscosity increases with the rate of shear strain. Such a shear thickening fluid, also known by the initialism STF, is an example of a non-Newtonian fluid. This behaviour is usually not observed in pure materials, but can occur in suspensions.
A dilatant is a non-Newtonian fluid where the shear viscosity increases with applied shear stress. This behavior is only one type of deviation from Newton's law of viscosity, and it is controlled by such factors as particle size, shape, and distribution. The properties of these suspensions depend on Hamaker theory and Van der Waals forces and can be stabilized electrostatically or sterically. Shear thickening behavior occurs when a colloidal suspension transitions from a stable state to a state of flocculation. A large portion of the properties of these systems are due to the surface chemistry of particles in dispersion, known as colloids.