Rheology and Dynamics of Colloidal Suspensions

Abstract

Predictions from a recently developed mode coupling theory (MCT) are compared with experimental results for hard-sphere suspensions. A simple scaling of the MCT results leads to good agreement with the data. The scaled MCT predicts that for hard-sphere suspensions the zero-shear limiting viscosity obeys a generalized Stokes-Einstein (GSE) relation with both the long-time self-diffusion coefficient and the long-time collective diffusion coefficient measured at the peak of the structure factor. MCT suggests that the same GSE relations do not hold for salt-free charge-stabilized suspensions.