TM9                         My Program 


Techniques and Methods: Rheometry, Tribometry, Spectroscopy and Microscopy


Extensional rheology and stringiness of yield stress fluids


October 22, 2025 (Wednesday) 10:30


Track 7 / Sweeney Ballroom D

(Click on name to view author profile)

  1. Sepahvand, Somayeh (University of Illinois Chicago, Chemical Engineering)
  2. Nikolova, Nadia (University of Illinois Chicago, Chemical Engineering)
  3. Edano, Louie (University of Illinois Chicago, Chemical Engineering)
  4. Sharma, Vivek (University of Illinois Chicago)

(in printed abstract book)
Somayeh Sepahvand, Nadia Nikolova, Louie Edano and Vivek Sharma
Chemical Engineering, University of Illinois Chicago, Chicago, IL 60607


Sepahvand, Somayeh


experimental methods; methods; rheometry; techniques


Many commercial formulations that appear to flow only beyond a critical stress value are classified as yield stress fluids. The apparent yield stress can be computed from a large variety of measurements that rely on transient, oscillatory, or steady shear response. Despite the wide availability and applications of such fluids, there is a considerable lack of studies that characterize their response to extensional stress and flows, motivating this study. Here we investigate the flow characteristics of extruded filaments using dripping and dripping-onto-substrate. We analyze the transition from solid to liquid in a neck to estimate the extensional yield stress and after yielding, characterize the neck pinching dynamics. The yielding transition, neck shapes, radius evolution as a function of time, and shape and size of dispensed drops are characterized and analyzed for prototypical yield stress fluids formulated using densely packed microgels, particles, drops, or macromolecules. We seek a deeper appreciation of the diversity in extensional response of formulations as influenced by their microstructure, and challenges involved in the characterization using methods based on free-surface flows.