Rheology

Rheology is the science of flow and deformation of matter

Processing

Processing here refers essentially to non-Newtonian fluid mechanics applied to compounding and shaping of soft matter into products.

Soft Matter

We use here Soft Matter as a generic term that includes the diverse materials we are working with. Soft Matter is a sub-category of condensed matter and consists of materials that are easily deformed by external fields. Examples of soft matter include polymers, gels, colloids, emulsions, liquid crystals, surfactants, foams etc. (see also Pierre-Gilles de Gennes ‘Soft Matter’, Nobel Lecture December 9, 1991).

Fun fact

Except for the Göteborg harbour (‘About’) and the west coast (‘Contact’) photos all other header images and the image letters of the group logo are visualizations from our research work. Can you guess what they represent?

Research overview

Rheology is unique among analytical techniques in materials science because it can probe material structure in ‘out-of-equilibrium’ states, i.e. flow induced. This takes rheology as analytical technique towards processing through flow and morphological control therewith. The processing of soft matter into products typically involves rheologically complex fluids in complex flow configurations. Thus, understanding flow-field-matter interactions in relation to fundamental rheological properties is essential for obtaining products with favorable performance through processing.

In this framework, our research is based around four main pillars: (i) complex fluid flows, (ii) flow-field filler interaction in nanostructured fluids, (iii) multifunctional properties in (nano) structured materials and (iv) advanced rheometry.

Current research activities include:

  • Advanced characterization methods, method development - focused on nonlinear material characterization and hyphenated rheological techniques, e.g. rheo-optics, rheo-SAXS, rheo-DES mainly applied to nanocellulose and graphene suspensions, polymer nanocomposites, adhesives and biomaterials (biofilms, tissues).
  • Field-matter interactions for multifunctional properties in nanostructured materials* - focused on the process structuring of ~polymer nanocomposites based on graphene and other high aspect ratio fillers for enhanced electrical, antibacterial, thermal, mechanical, gas-barrier etc. properties.
  • Dynamics of complex fluids for processing applications - focused on modeling (CFD), processing flow and compositional optimization of high filler content bicomposites, flow-assisted structuring of nanocrystalline cellulose dispersions and thixotropic yield stress fluids in general.

Education

FIMS006 Introduction to Rheology FIMS006 is a biennial Treesearch course for PhD students working with rheology, but also suitable to industry researchers that wish to enhance their knowledge of rheology. The registration is open to both national and international participants. The course offers a broad overview of rheology fundamentals and of some of the main types of complex fluids.

The course description for 2022 can be found here. The next one is scheduled for March 2024.

MTT090 Polymer Processing and Properties Master course within the Materials Engineering master program at Chalmers.

MTT085 Materials Engineering, lectures in Polymeric Materials Bachelor course within the Mechanical Engineering program at Chalmers.

Outreach

We organize rheology seminars for industrial actors on demand. Larger events, such as local workshophs with a special thematic, could be organized with the support of the Nordic Rheology Society.