Thixotropic materials are complex fluids that display time-dependent viscosity and/or yield-stress response upon the application of a fixed deformation, while recovering their original structured-state when deformation is discontinued. effects presents in many different systems and applications, ranging from food products, such as ketchup, to metals, molten aluminum. In this work we present fir...

We study the solid mechanical properties of several thixotropic suspensions as a function of the shear stress history applied during their flow stoppage and their aging in their solid state. We show that their elastic modulus and yield stress depend strongly on the shear stress applied during their solid-liquid transition (i.e., during flow stoppage) while applying the same stress only before o...

This work proposes the use of quartz crystal microbalances (QCMs) as a method to analyze and characterize magnetorheological (MR) fluids. QCM devices are sensitive to changes in mass, surface interactions, and viscoelastic properties of the medium contacting its surface. These features make the QCM suitable to study MR fluids and their response to variable environmental conditions. MR fluids ch...

High viscosity ink is a potential solution for the improvement of current 3D ink jetting technology. In this study, experiments are carried out to study a series of inks with differing viscosities jetted with PicoDot jet valves under different process parameters of temperature and pressure. Results show that a wide range of ink materials from low viscosity (water like materials) to very high vi...

We report the design of an injectable synthetic and biodegradable polymeric biomaterial comprised of polyethylene glycol and a polycarbonate of dihydroxyacetone (MPEG-pDHA). MPEG-pDHA is a thixotropic physically cross-linked hydrogel, displays rapid chain relaxation, is easily extruded through narrow-gauge needles, biodegrades into inert products, and is well tolerated by soft tissues. We demon...

Despite the wide-spread use and importance of thixotropic materials, accurate theoretical descriptions are still limited to a handful model transient flow conditions. We employ an iterative series tests experimentally probe complex dynamics exhibited by materials. cessation identify elastic stresses during stress jump tests. It is shown that evolution closely follows total in tests, indicating ...