Abstract
The rheological data of weakly attractive colloidal particles are shown to exhibit a surprising scaling behavior as the particle volume fraction, , or the strength of the attractive interparticle interaction, , are varied. There is a critical onset of a solid network as either or increase above critical values. For all solidlike samples, both the frequency-dependent linear viscoelastic moduli, and the strain-rate dependent stress can be scaled onto universal master curves. A model of a solid network interspersed in a background fluid qualitatively accounts for this behavior.
- Received 14 March 2000
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.85.449
©2000 American Physical Society