A stable flow-induced structured phase in wormlike micellar solutions

Abstract

A stable flow-induced transition of a wormlike micellar solution to a structured solution phase is studied. This transition occurs when the solution is flowed through a specially designed microfluidic device. Rheological properties of the structured phase are presented along with a simple model for structure formation. We model the solution and structure formation using a network scission model that contains two species of interacting, elastically-active micellar chains. The model permits transition to the structured state when the chains experience a high degree of elongation primarily due to extensional strains that are present in the microchannel flow but absent in conventional shear flows.